Lost Bonds and Lost Princesses
by TivaNaluKick4evs
Summary: When Lucy was younger, she was princess of Fiore, or the Lost Princess. She disappeared in July 7th, X777. Coincidence? I think not! What happens ten years later when she reunites with an old friend? Will her father look for her? Can they find Igneel? Will love bloom between the long lost friends? R&R please! NALU
1. Chapter 1

**Hiya, I am back with another story I WILL finish! I actually have a lot of inspiration on this one so no worries. **

**So the first chapter is really important it is kind of like a flash back. Please excuse and spelling or grammar mistakes because I kinda suck at things like that... I get my two languages mixed up sometimes and the grammar is very different on both so it's confusing. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail! If I did, Mira would be gushing over little Natsu's right now (Thats right, I went there)**

**ENJOY!**

•_• ?  
July 6, X777

An excited, now seven year old, ran threw the castle squealing. Today is her birthday. A day where everyone in the kingdom of Fiore rejoices. All the citizens loved the little girl, Lucy, and her mother, Queen Layla. Even if the king was a total jerk to the people, the only reason the people didn't revolt is because if the princess. She was a sign of hope for the kingdom. Before her, King Jude was a tyrant, a criminal. The day Lucy was born, the king canceled all the executions, the tax taking, and the raids on innocent people in the royal village of Crocus. Things seemed to look up from there.

"Mommy! Guess what? It's my birthday! Wake up!" An excited Lucy yelled at her sleeping mother. Layla stirred. Rubbing her eyes, she looked up at Lucy affectionately.

"Really? Already?" Layla joked. Lucy giggled at her mother.

"Of course! I am turning seven today. Don't you remember?" She asked. Layla enveloped her in a hug.

"How could I forget? My bright, shining 'Lucky Lucy', Happy Birthday!" Layla handed her a small box wrapped with a pink bow from under her pillow. Lucy quickly took it from her mother and opened it. A set of keys laid inside.  
Not just any keys though. Gate keys. Three Zodiac keys to be exact. Cancer, Taurus, and Aquarius. Lucy jumped on her mom to give her a hug.

"This is the best present ever! I love you so much. I mean, I already do, but I love you much, much more now." Lucy said quickly.  
Layla laughed. Beside her, Jude woke up.

"What is this all about?" He asked in a harsh tone.

"It's my birthday daddy!" Lucy said. She was about to hug him when he jumped out of bed in a rushed manor.

"Yeah, yeah. But you still have your lessons. Now if you excuse me, I have an important meeting to attend to." With that, he grabbed his clothes and headed to his office. Layla's nostrils flared. He was not going to do what she thought he was.

Shaking the thought out of her head, Layla turned her attention to Lucy. "Go get dressed and we can go see your friend. Lucy jumped off the bed, with keys in hand, and ran to her room.  
She got a maid to help her open her closet. The maid, Ms. Supetto, grabbed Lucy's birthday dress and helped her put it on.

"He is going to love it!" Lucy said.

"Who is going to love it?" Ms. Supetto asked.

"Natsu will silly!"

Natsu. He is Lucy's friend that her and her mom stumbled upon in the woods. He has pink hair and onyx eyes. Natsu always wears a scaly white scarf and his red dragon t-shirt. His jumpy personality would make anyone love him or be friends with him.

But there was something more to Lucy's fascination with him. Every time they touched hands or when he gave her piggy back rides, she would have a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It made her feel good. Like she could do anything in the whole world! His smile would light up a room and make her young heart flutter. He was so kind, it was hard not to love him.

"Done!" Ms. Supetto said.

Lucy looked at her reflection in the mirror. She wore a pink sundress the color of Natsu's spiky locks. It tied around the neck. Around the edges, was lace and little reddish, goldish, rhinestones scattered along the hem and the v-neck collar. Her shoes were gold gladiator sandals. She twirled around, careful enough to we're her hair didn't come out of place. Curtesy of Cancer,Part of her long honey blonde hair was did up in a intricate fashion with little matching jewels in her braids. The rest of her hair was left straight and down. (Only because Natsu liked it straight and down)

"This is amazing! Thank you Ms. Supetto! Thank you Cancer!"

"No problem, ebi. Happy birthday." With that note, he disappeared.

"The pleasure is all mine Miss Lucy! You look so beautiful!" The maid cried out. Lucy placed a comforting hand on her back. When the maid stopped crying, Lucy dashed off to her mother, who was waiting for her.  
Layla had on a shimmering gold dress that showed off her slender figure. Her sleeves almost dragged on the ground. Her hair was pulled up in a high bun with little sprigs hanging down. Usually she wore her crown, but not today.

"Momma, I am ready! But can we stop by the kitchen first? One of the maids made me a secret cake so I can celebrate with Natsu." Little Lucy said. Layla smiled, taking her hand.  
Once in the kitchen, they grabbed the small cake, a few other things, and put it in a basket. Lucy grabbed her keys and they left through the back door.

After a while of walking, sneaking, and running, they finally made it to their meeting spot. Lucy quickly ran to the mouth of the cave in which Natsu and his "Father" Igneel live in. Igneel is a fire dragon. He is currently teaching Natsu Fire Dragon Slayer magic.

"NATSU! IGNEEL! Wake up." Lucy called. In a blink of an eye, Natsu pounced on her with a playful grin on his face.

"Happy birthday, Luce!" He yelled. Lucy giggled.

"Aye!" Said a small voice. The voice came from Happy, the exceed. He is blue with a small green bandana in his back. White wings jutted out of his back as he flew around. Yeah, that's right. He flys. The two children found his egg in the middle of the woods a few months ago. Natsu thought he was a dragon. Oh how wrong he was. Happy was far from a fearsome dragon. He was a cute, happy little cat.

"Thanks you guys!" Lucy gushed.

"Happy birthday little one." Igneel said in his rough, scratchy voice. The small girl went and put a small kiss on his snout.

"Thank you Igneel." Lucy said. Igneel's chest rumbled in a could of a dragon like purr. She giggled.

"Lucy," her mothers voice said behind her. "Show Natsu what you got for your birthday before we eat." Layla said from her position on the picnic blanket.

The little girl mumbled an "Oh!" And pulled out her keys. Natsu stated at them like the way he looked at books. "What is it?" He said.

"Those are gate keys you idiot!" Igneel hit him with his tail. "She only talks about them every time she sees you."

"Goddamn, old man! That hurt!" Natsu bellowed. "Sorry Luce, continue."

"Thank you. Mamma got them for me! There is Cancer, Aquarius, and Taurus, who are the Zodiacs. With Hologrium, and Plue, being the silver keys." She said proudly. Natsu and Happy stared at her with smiles on their faces.

"I bet my present is better!" The pink haired Dragon Slayer yelled. "Happy go get it!"

"Aye!"

Lucy was stunned. They got her a present? Did they know they didn't have to?

A minute later, Happy ran out with a black box that had a golden bow. She was about to take it when Natsu grabbed it and put it behind his back.

"You can have it when we get done eating," Lucy pouted. "Come on!" He pulled her by her hand to the blanket.

After eating, Natsu and Lucy went off to the woods. They always played in the woods in a certain spot, the spot they found Happy. When they got there, Natsu pulled out the box and handed it to Lucy.  
She quickly opened it to reveal a necklace. The necklace consisted of a thin gold chain with a red ruby heart hanging off of the chain. Inside the heart was a small gold flame that was burning. On the back was: Natsu&Lucy July 6 X777. Lucy almost cried. It was beautiful! Who knew he could be this thoughtful?

"I love it! Thank you." Lucy hugged him. He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist. They broke up when Happy sighed.

"Well, that makes my gift look bad."

"Why?" The kids said.

"Because my gift is a fish." Happy replied. He pulled a wrapped fish from his bandana and presented it to her. She took it and kissed him on the nose. His fur changed a weird shade of pink. Lucy giggled.

"I love it. Thank you both very much. But you didn't have to," Lucy sighed smiling.

"But we wanted to Luce!" Natsu said. "And it wasn't just us. Igneel got you a present to. Lets go get it!" With that they ran back to their parents.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Layla and Igneel watched the two children and exceed wander off into the forest. After a minute of silence, Igneel spoke.

"How far along are you on getting Lucy on the castle?"  
The blonde thought on that for a moment. "All I have to do is go to the location. It's not to far from here actually. I just hope he doesn't find us there. A little girl doesn't deserve to grow up in those conditions."  
Lately King Jude has been planning something. Something bad. For the past six months he has been talking to dukes and rich family's about marrying Lucy off. All so 'The kingdom can be preserved' in his words. Layla thought it wasn't fair. He had no right to do that to Lucy. Also, he had become more agitated at the littlest of things. Once Lucy was laughing with a maid. Jude almost had the maid hung.

"I agree," said Igneel. "She needs freedom. We just can't tell Natsu."

"Why?"  
"Because he is emotionally attached to her now. If something bad happens to her, Natsu will go ballistic. I mean like, destroy anyone who stands in his way. The way he is thinking right now, he would do anything to protect Lucy, you, Happy, and I. Mostly Lucy."

Layla blushed.

"You can also tell he is committed to Lucy by his present. It's a ruby heart necklace with a flame inside."

"How did he get that in there?" Layla asked, amazed.

"He used an ancient spell that produces golden, forever burning flames. Golden flames are protection flames. As long as it still burns, it will spell caster has to think of the person, or object, it wants to give the flame to. Once you connect the flame to the person or object, you have to connect it to something of your own. Natsu chose the scarf I gave him. Now his scarf acts like an indicator to tell if the flame holder is in danger." Igneel explained.

"That spell sounds complicated. Though I am very thankful for his protectiveness over my daughter. She might need it in the future." Said Layla.

A minute later, a blur of blonde, pink and blue appeared. Layla noticed that Lucy had the necklace Igneel described. It was beautiful. The small flame danced around in a rhythmic pattern. The gold and red created little spots of color on the pale colored blanket.

Soon it was time to leave. Before Lucy and Layla left, Igneel handed her a red dragon scaled pouch to hold her keys. She noticed, on the back, it had a strange design on it. The symbol looked like a fairy with... A tail? Lucy shook the thought off. She would do research later. She turned to Natsu to say goodbye.

Natsu wrapped his arm around her waist. Happy took the hug position on her neck. Lucy giggled at the scene before her. It was adorable.  
When Layla managed to get Lucy away from Natsu, they left for the castle. It didn't take them long to reach the back door. As soon as they got in, Lucy ran up stairs to research the mark. While Lucy was researching, she could hear the angry yells from her father and mother.

"You can't do that to her!"

"It's for the better of our country! Don't you care about that?!"

"I do but I care for our daughter more! She can marry who ever the hell she wants to. YOU can't tell her who her Prince Charming is! Nobody can but her!"

"Maybe Prince Hollis (?) is her Prince Charming!"

"He isn't. He never will be."

"Look, I don't care any more. The kingdom needs a make heir to rule the throne. As of today, she is engaged to the prince of Boscow."

"YOU IDIOT!" Lucy flinched as she heard a door slam. Seconds later her mother flung open her bedroom door.

"What's going on mamma? Why were you yelling?" A scared and confused Lucy asked.

"Your father made a huge mistake. We are leaving. Pack a few books and other things fast. Don't worry about clothes, I took care of that for you." Layla said. Lucy hopped down from the chair she was sitting on and grabbed a few books. She put them in a book bag with her photo album of her and Natsu, Igneel, and her mother. Lucy grabbed her key pouch and put it on her new key belt.

Layla grabbed Lucy's hand and snuck out the back. On the way out, they accidentally ran into the place guards. They dashed around the corner, into the woods.

In Igneel's cave, Natsu's scarf started glowing red. Alarmed, Igneel nudged Natsu with his nose.

"Natsu! Wake up! Something is wrong. Lucy is in trouble." Igneel panicked. Natsu sprung to his feet with Happy jumping ten feet in the air.

"WHERE IS LUCY? ARE HER AND LAYLA OK? Sorry Happy!" He shouted.

Igneel wanted to roll his eyes at him. But decided against it. He scooped him up and headed outside. In the distance, they heard heavy feet and the sound of panting. Over to the left, Lucy and her mother jumped out of the bushes. Natsu scrambled off the dragon to hug Lucy. She ran willingly into his arms. Natsu noticed she was shaking and she smelt like salt. She was crying. Something in him felt like it snapped. He pulled apart and looked her in the eyes.

"What happened?"

"I-I was in m-my room and *sniff* mamma and daddy were f-fighting," a whole new set of hysterics broke out. "D-daddy said I had to marry someone I don't even like! Mamma and me ran out and n-now the guards are after us!" Lucy cried out. Happy landed on he shoulders and tried to comfort her. She pulled Natsu into another hug. He rubbed small circles on her back and cooed comforting words in her ear.  
Behind them, Layla paced back and forth.

"How am I going to get Lucy to our hiding place in time?! The palace guards are right on our tails, and we can't make it!" She groaned in frustration. Igneel stared at the two children in the distance, thinking. How could they get out? Surely there was a way. Maybe if they-  
His thought was cut short when palace troops marched through the foliage.

"Queen Layla! Princess Lucy! You are ordered to come to the palace at once. King Jude's orders." One solider said. Layla shook her head defiantly.

"Never."

The next thing happened so fast, it was almost like it never even happened.  
The guards charged at the women, but were flung back by a dragon's tail. Igneel roared at a few brave soldiers who came back for revenge. Natsu was guarding Lucy and Layla with Happy's help.

"Ha ha! He's just a kid. Take him in."  
Of course, they were wrong on that part. Natsu just smirked.

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"

Instantly, a group of soldiers were taken out. He grinned proudly at his roar. Teaches them not to underestimate him!

Unfortunately, some of the people were Mages. One of the nullified Natsu's magic, making him fall to the ground.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried. She bent down and pulled him up so she could hug him. Happy wrapped his tail around Natsu's neck.  
The same one hit Igneel with a powerful attack. He roared in agony as it hit his left flank.

"Layla! Take Lucy out of here!" He yelled. Tears formed in Lucy's eyes. She couldn't leave Natsu like this.

"Lucy! Lets go. Natsu will be fine! We need to go. NOW." Layla ordered. Lucy got up.

"Goodbye Natsu. Come find us." She whispered. As she jogged toward her mother, she heard Natsu mumble.

"Happy, go with Lucy. Protect her for me. I will be coming soon. Then we can all go and be happy." Tears brimmed Happy's eyes. He hugged Natsu then flew off to Lucy.

"Happy?" Layla asked. "Can you take Lucy to the hideout for me? Lucy and call her spirit, Cancer. He knows where it is. I love you both. Now go!" Layla said. Lucy hugged her mother for the last time. She kissed her hair.

"I am going to miss you so much."whispered Lucy.

"Open, Gate of the Crab! Cancer!"

"I will protect, ebi"

"Aye sir!"

With that, they went their separate ways.

"Lucy... Happy... Layla... Igneel..."


	2. Chapter 2

:-&

**Well hello again, back by popular demand! Thank you for all of the followers/reviewers/favorites! That means a lot to me *starts tearing up***

**Gajeel: Yeah, Yeah hurry up! Oh and just so you know, I am doing the disclaimer. **

**Me: fine! Go ahead then. **

**Gajeel: TivaKickNalu4evs doesn't own Fairy Tail. She's too much of a bastard to do so. Gee-hee**

**Me: Jee, thanks. ENJOY**!

Present day Magnolia- Natsu

It has been ten years, TEN YEARS, since I last saw Igneel, Happy, Layla, and... Luce. God do I miss her. I wish I went with her; or that I could find her. I even looked for her right after... The accident.

**_Flashback_**:

_I watched Happy, Cancer and Lucy enter the forest. I sent out a silent prayer for them while I got up. _

_"Layla," Igneel said. "Get behind us. We got this."_

_"No. I will not stand behind anyone. I will fight with you." Layla said. I grinned at her will power. On the outside, she looked all prim and proper with a touch of gorgeous, but on the inside she was tougher than me at times. I mean ME!_

_"As you wish. But do not think for a moment I am happy about this." Igneel grumbled. _

_A guard came at me with a spear in hand. He shouted as he got faster. I jumped up and nailed him in the jaw. The spear flew out of his hand and landed on the ground with a sharp cracking sound. He looked at his broken weapon, then at me. The guard shot up and charged again. _

_"Oh hell, again?" I muttered. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" I went for an uppercut to the jaw. He flew back and knocked out a dozen or so people in his path. I heard a sickening snap when his back hit the tree.  
I was surrounded by guards from then on out. I could tell they were still going easy on me because I am just a kid. They didn't even act like they were trying to hard to get rid of me. But then again, I wasn't trying to hard to get rid of them. _

_Behind me, I tried to pay attention to the others. _

_"We don't want to hurt you, your Highness. So just come with is and get the princess back and we will leave these... Creatures alone." An apparent knight said the Layla. She stuck out her tongue. _

_"You wish! This would make your job easier for me to go would it? But I am never going back. Nothing would ever make me go back to that man with too much power."_

_The knight rubbed his eyebrows. "Fine. You forced my hand. Men!" He yelled. "Go to plan alpha! Kill them all! But hold off on finding the princess. King Jude wants her alive." Layla gasped. Igneel and I growled threateningly. _

_"You wouldn't dare..." I said. Slowly, I walked toward them. "No one would even DARE," I repeated. Suddenly, I felt power surge within me. _

_"Calm down Natsu," Igneel warned. The fighting stopped momentarily because of my sudden increase in magic. "Take control of yourself. This isn't like you. Layla will be safe, I am fine, Happy is fine, and I am sure Lucy is fine too." He tried to calm me down. That didn't work to well. _

_My scarf started to glow, like it did when Lucy came here crying. I could feel my skin change into scales and my vision get sharper suddenly. My teeth got stronger, and the fire on my hand turned gold. _

_"What is this power?! It can't come from him! He is only a kid!" The knight yelled. "Hurry up! Kill the queen before he can stop us."  
Layla's face paled. She looked at me with a warn out look. "Tell Lucy I love her Natsu. Take care of her. Stop Jude before its to-" _

_Snap. _

_My vision turned red when I saw her head lay lifelessly on her, used to be, neck. Me and Igneel let out a deafening roar. Tears feel down my scaly cheeks. _

_"You," I pointed a finger at the knight. "You killed part of my happiness. You must die with it." Behind me I heard Igneel mumble a low 'Good luck. Go find Lucy' _

_Then the world went red_.

**_Flashback end:_**

I sighed and slumped in my chair even more depressed than before. Just thinking about it made me want to cry. Seeing your friend and her mother slip from your grasp was something that changed you forever. Nothing in the world could compare to the pain you would suffer. I laid my head down on the table.

"Oi, Flame brain! Fight me," Gray yelled. I shot him a glare then laid my head back down.

"What's your problem? Lately you have been so depressed, I think you aren't Natsu anymore.

I laughed darkly. "Only four people in the world have seen me act like 'Natsu'. You aren't one of them." He scoffed.

"Then who are these wondrous people? Hmm? They must be pretty special if they have seen the real you and your nakama hasn't."

"Go away. You may never know who they are," I said. He snorted and he walked away.

"Ara~ Natsu what's wrong?" Mira asked me. I peeked over my arms to catch a glimpse of her worried blue eyes.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong." I started thinking about Lucy again in the silence.

"Are you thinking about a girl?" Mira asked.

"N-no. Just leave me alone." I felt the tips of my ears heat up. She giggled at me.

"Fine. But I will find out who this lucky lady is. If she had the affections of Natsu Dragneel, she must be special."

Lucky Lucy.

**_Memory_**:

"_Natsu! Guess what I caught?" Lucy cheered. I turned to see a fish bigger than her. _

_"Wow Luce! You are better than us at this." We hugged._

_"You are Lucky Lucy!" Happy said from behind. _

_We laughed. _

**_Memory end_**:

"Natsu... NATSU~" Mira yelled. I snapped out of my trance. "Master wants to see you." I groaned.

"Natsu, in my office." Jii-chan said.  
When we got to his office, he started his intervention.

"Why have you been so sad lately? Before, it was bearable but now, we are all worried. You won't even take jobs anymore. And when you do, they don't have any real reward; just a gate key." We sat in silence for a minute.  
I could tell he was shaken up a bit when I slammed my gate keys on his desk.

"Why do you have these? You can't use them. Can you?"

"Yeah, I kinda can. Why else would I have them?" Sigh. "I can use them, they just aren't for me. They are for a friend." I grumbled.

"A friend huh. Well, your friend is pretty rare then," he said. I perked up.

"Why?"

"Because," he said. "Celestial magic is a lost art. Almost all spirit mages are either dead, or have had their key taken away by power hungry dark guilds. Some of the last known key bearers were Karen, Yukino, and Queen Layla. Rumors, though, about her missing daughter being a Celestial Mage are still there." He paused. "What is your friends name?"

Should I tell him? I can trust him not to tell anyone right?  
Ok, I will tell him. "Her name is Lucy. We have known each other since I was with Igneel." I smiled thinking about her.

"Lucy..." He wanted me to go on but I shook my head. "Ah, sorry brat."  
I was about to reply when my scarf went a ruby red. My heart clenched. It hasn't done this since... Don't think about it!

"What is wrong with your scarf?" Master asked worriedly. I smiled. It probably wasn't very reassuring, judging by the look on his face.  
When it started getting brighter, I grabbed the keys and flung open the door. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, Loke showed up.

"What do you want you over grown cat?" I growled. "Nobody can see you!"

"I sensed your anger and hurt, so I came out to see what was wro-" he looked at my scarf. "You are going to find her?" I nodded. "Then I will come to!" Before I could object, Loke walked down the stairs.

"Get back here! Go back! Go back!" Panicking, I fumbled for my keys. I had them in my hands, until I heard my name being called.

"Natsu? Is that you?"

My eyes widened. "Lucy..."  
-

"Ouch! Happy, you don't have to drop me at the entrance of every guild do you? Aww man, I think it's bleeding!" Lucy whined.  
Happy grabbed her backpack that was dropped and whimpered. "Sorry Lucy. I won't do it again! I promise on a river full of fish! Cross my heart and hope to starve!"

Lucy rolled her eyes and tended to her wound. It was a long cut on the side of her left calf. "It's not too deep..." She mumbled to herself. In truth, it wasn't to shallow either. Blood gushed out of the cut whenever she touched. Wincing, she stood on her feet.

"Ok Happy, there is only one more guild, after this, to check out if he isn't here."

"I don't think Natsu is here." He said. "I keep getting a playboy kinda vibe from this place," Happy shivered. Lucy motioned for him to quit flying and get into her arms.

"I wouldn't want people to get freaked out by a flying, blue, talking cat. So, we can freak them out less by just a talking blue cat. Come on!" She pushed open the doors to the guild. It was quiet. Too quiet for Natsu's standards in her opinion. He was always very loud.

"Welcome to Blue Pegasus miss! How may I help you?" Lucy almost screamed at the person behind the bars appearance. He-if that- was bald and kind of fat. It had on a pink tank top and striped pants.  
The tank top had a low neck line that reviled sagging man boobs and chest hair. It's face looked like a males, but it had on lipstick. Small wings could be found on its back.

"Hello, I was wondering if you could help me find something, well someone," Lucy asked nervously.

"Of course! I am Master Bob. Nice to meet you. Now, who are you looking for. If its someone from this guild, I am afraid they are probably out on a job. If you are looking for the Trimens, they should be back soon..."

"Oh, no. I am looking for a man with pink hair, who wears a white, scaly scarf and who uses fire magic that isn't sold on stores. Do you know of anybody?"

He stood their for a moment in thought. "Are you perhaps looking for Natsu-san? If so, he is at a guild about a night away by train. The guild is called Fairy Tail in Magnolia."

Lucy gave a small smile. "Yeah, that's him. I heard Fairy Tail is really rowdy, just the atmosphere he would be in."

"Aye! I told you it wouldn't be here!" Happy said from her lap. Master Bob looked around.

"What was that?" He asked. Lucy blushed a little.

"Oh I forgot! This is Happy, Natsu's exceed. He has been with me, traveling."

"Aye!" Happy shot up from her lap and into the air. She yelled at him to get down, but to no avail. 'Doesn't he remember we dont show people he can fly?!' She wondered. Lucy tried to reach him from her seat on the stool, but fell and hurt her leg. Again.

"Oh dear! You're hurt. Let me help you with your leg. How did you get such a wound?" Master Bob rushed over to her aid. As he tried to unwrap her leg, she pushed him away.

"It's ok. I just got dropped and slid on gravel. You don't need to help me. Watch," Lucy got up and sat back down.

Happy flew down from the rafters and sat next to her. "I'm sorry."

"I know Happy. But it's ok because my necklace can help."  
Lucy pulled the necklace out from under her shirt. She unclasped it and murmured softly to the golden ruby. After a few seconds, the room lit up in a soft golden light. Inside the heart, a little dragon formed for the fire. Lucy placed the pendant on her leg. A magic circle surrounded her calf as swirls if fire passed through her wound.

Master Bob could only stare in wonder. "W-where did you get something like that? It's absolutely beautiful Lucy-chan!"

"Natsu," was her only reply.  
Master Bob clasped his hands together. "Who knew Nastu-kun could make something so beautiful?" Hearts flew around his head.

"Natsu-" Happy started.

"-kun?" Lucy said, trying to hide her disgust in her voice.

A while later, Happy and Lucy bided the Master goodbye.

"Be careful. Tell Natsu-kun I said hello!"

Lucy's sweat dropped. "Will do. Happy! Can you carry me to the train station. It's getting dark and my wound is just sealed. I didn't want to do the whole healing process. Maybe when I get to Fairy Tail, Natsu can finish it for me."

"Aye SIR!" Happy grabbed her shirt and they headed to the train station.

SOMETIME LATER...

Lucy and Happy groaned as the speakers blared in Magnoila Station. It was about two in the morning and they had been woken up rather rudely. Some guy pushed her off of her seat and told her to get off.

"Commmee onn Happy," Lucy slurred. "Let's find an inn to stay at. After Lunch time, we will go to the guild."

"Aye *yawn* sir." Happy climbed from her arms to her neck to sleep.

Some time later, Lucy found a room. When she was handed they key, Happy woke up some to fly her slugging body to the room. The second they laid on the bed, they were out like a light.

Morning:

"Come on Happy! I want to get there as soon as possible," Lucy was practically hopping toward the bathroom to change she was so excited.

"Aye! I will start packing up a bit. How's your leg?" He asked.

"As long as I don't do anything to reopen the wound, I should be fine until Natsu can help me." Lucy replied. She saw him nod as she closed the bathroom door.

Since today is a special day, she decided she would wear the dress Happy got her for her birthday last year. Don't ask how he got it, because she had no clue. Lucy was going to save it so she could wear it on her birthday in three days, but chose not to.

The dress looked ver similar to the one she wore the last time Natsu saw her. The only difference was the neckline was way lower. She kept her hair the same way, because Natsu liked it like that.  
After changing her bandages and grimacing over the cut, she walked out to Happy.

"You ready?" She asked. He flew around happily before landing on her head.

"Let's go!"

Their journey to the guild wasn't that far, but it took forever because this was tourist season. People taking pictures, laughing, blocking the streets, this is an atmosphere Lucy loved. She loved others getting along. It has always pleased her.

Of course, the only was she really learned to love a friendly atmosphere was from her time with Natsu, Happy, Igneel, and her mother.  
A couple of times she got lost, but the friendly citizens got her back on track. In no time, she could see the guild.

"I see the guild! Lets go!" Lucy started running. However, she didn't see a hole in the pavement. Before Happy could catch her, she fell, sliding again.

"Lucy! Are you ok?" He was really worried now. This was the third time she has fallen on this wound. He needed to get her to the guild and fast.

"I am fine. My leg just feels like it could fall off, but I'm good." She said sarcastically. Happy opened up his wings and grabbed her dress.

"We're almost there. Hang on." Happy said.  
At the doors, he stood her up. "Can you stand? Even for a minute?" He asked. Lucy nodded.

"Yeah. Lets do it." She opened the door.

This guild had a much more lively and friendly aura about it than the ones she had been to prior. Everyone was laughing and using magic for games. Though there was a fight starting in the back, it wasn't serious.  
When she started limping in, some observed her, others kept laughing. It was hard to hear conversations she noticed. The only one she could hear was from two voices coming from the stairs.

"You are going to find her?" A voice said. "Then I will come to!" A man with strawberry blonde hair came down the stairs.

"Get back here! Go back! Go back!" Another voice said. This one sounded frantic. Her eyes widened. A man with Pink hair and a scaly scarf was fumbling with something in his pocket.

"Natsu? Is that you?" Lucy asked.

As he made eye contact with her, his eyes widened. "Lucy..."


	3. Chapter 3

**I am back with a shorter, fillerish chapter! **

**Ok, so when ever I do a filler, I think of this book as a pillow. The filler in a pillow is fluff. So this chapter has fluff galore! I was going to post it tomorrow but I am in such a good/bad mood because of the new manga chapter I posted it today! **

**Before I start the story I have one question: who felt like their inner fangirl was going to come out and never come back in? Because that happened to me...**

**Gajeel: yeah yeah, that chapter was nothing because I wasn't there. **

**Me: Of course. Disclaimer Gajeel. Do it now!**

**Gajeel: god woman! ****サラ****h does not own Fairy Tail, the greatest freakin troll of all time does. **

**Enjoy**!

"Lucy..." Natsu stood dumbfounded and wide eyed.

"NATSUUUU!" Happy cried as he struggled out of Lucy's grip. Once he was free, he slammed into Natsu's chest.

"Oh Natsu! I missed you so much! Why didn't you look for us after we left huh? Without you, I couldn't convince Lucy to go fishing with me. Instead she sent the fish spirits to go with me." Happy cried. Natsu hugged him comfortingly.

"I'm sorry buddy, but I will explain it to you later, when Lucy's isn't limping." He walked over to the girl that was leaning for support against the door frame. Natsu hugged Happy closer when he squatted down to her level.

"Natsu... I missed you so much!" Lucy kept her voice down while she cried.

"I missed you to Luce." He smiled sadly. "What happened to your leg? I smell blood. I swear I will kill the bastard who did this to you!" He lit his fist in fire. Lucy giggled.

"Nobody is going to die today. I tripped in front of the last guild I visited. Sorry," Lucy said.

"Did you use the fire?"

"Yes I did. Well, not all the way. I need the rest to be healed. I only sealed it up temporarily. It opened up again when I tripped on the sidewalk."

"Natsu-san!" Said a small voice. "Let me try to heal her." A girl with long blue hair rushed up to Lucy with wide eyes.

"Hello, Lucy-san. My name is Wendy Marvel, Sky Dragon Slayer." She bowed. "Would you like me to help you?"

Lucy smiled but shook her head. "I wish you could, but you can't."

"Why not?"

"Only Natsu's fire can heal me."

"Flame brain? Heal somebody? Please, all he can do is destroy stuff," said Gray.

"You wanna say that again Ice princess?!"

"All you can do is destroy stuff flame brain!"

"Are we fighting?" Said the red headed demon. They coward in fear and hugged themselves.

"N-n-no!" They said in unison. Despite the pain Lucy was feeling, she laughed. It was funny to see Natsu scared of someone who seemed so nice. As Lucy's laughs died down, her chest ached and her leg felt like she needed to cut it off. She winced.

"Umm, I think Lucy-san needs to be healed now," Wendy piped up.  
Natsu nodded and squatted to pick her up. Lucy groaned a little, but stopped when he moved her leg in a more comfortable position. Halfway to the stairs, he stopped and turned to the guild.

"Are you coming or not?"

Most of them rushed around when they realized what he meant. In the end, only Master, Mira, Wendy, Gajeel, Happy, Carla, Erza, and Gray followed him to the infirmary.  
Natsu swung open the door and sat Lucy on the nearest bed.

"You ready Natsu?" Master said. He nodded once.

When Natsu lit up his hand, he became nervous. What if he hurt her? What if he couldn't summon the right flame? What if it did more harm then good to fix it? Many more thoughts like that ran through his head until Lucy put a comforting had on his arm and smiled.

"You can do it remember?"

He nodded and closed his eyes.

Natsu remember how Igneel taught him to summon this flame. Think of the one thing you absolutely love, then the flame comes to you. He tried that with Igneel. It didn't work. He tried it again with his nakama, didn't work. Lastly, he tried it with Lucy. A gold flame appeared around his hand. Some of the onlookers stood slack jawed and wide eyed as little scales covered the outside of his eye and down his neck. Erza and Makarov could feel his magic power rising. It was like he was going into...

"This power feels like Dragon Force," Erza stared in awe.

Natsu smirked before concentrating again. Slowly, he moved his hand down to her calf and sat the flame on her wound. To his surprise, it didn't burn her. Instead, she smiled at the comforting effect it had on her.

As soon as the flames touched her skin, a gold warmth, almost the same as when Lucy used her necklace, filled the room. The fire swirled about to form a dragon. The dragon almost reached the sealing. Natsu smiled. He did it right. The dragon let out a small gush of flames from its mouth, cauterizing the cut. With a flash of brilliant light, the fire burned out, leaving a shiny pink scar in its place.

Natsu frowned at the scar. He found it imperfect on her skin. So he did what anyone would do: he liked his finger and rubbed it on the scar.

"That's gross..." Gray mumbled. Natsu shot him a glare.

"Watch ice princess," he growled.

When Natsu turned back to Lucy, he could see the scar disappear. Inch by inch, the pink line vanished until nothing was left. They knew the process was done, when the scales sunk back into his skin and he helped Lucy up.

"That was amazing Natsu-san!" Wendy gasped.

"Impressive," Said Erza

"Lucy's fixed! Natsu fixed her! I say we eat fish. Who's with me?" Said Happy. Carla rolled her eyes.

"Who knew, Salamander," Gajeel and Gray both said.

"How do you feel Lucy?" Mira asked. Master looked like he had the same question.

"I feel great! My leg doesn't hurt and I am not dizzy. Thank you Natsu!" Cried Lucy. He just shrugged and smiled.

"Well, now that's taken care of, would you like to join the guild? That is, if you are a Mage." Makarov said.

"Of course I'm a Mage. I am a Celestial Spirit Wizard. I currently have Aquarius, Cancer, and Taurus. And I would love to be in the guild. I have been here less than an hour and I already love it," Lucy replied.

"Great," master eyed Natsu. Giving him a knowing look. "Where would you like your mark?"

"Umm, pink and on my right hand please." As soon as she had her stamp, Natsu grabbed her hand and Happy's tail.

"Let's go around Magnoila! Then we can go fishing, and swimming, and then you can come to my house to rest!" Natsu had a skip in his step as he ran out the guild doors.

Makarov shook is head. In a certain light, you can say his happiness not something that one could influence easily. It took a whole hell of a lot to bring out. No one has ever seen him this happy before. Not even when Natsu ate celestial fire that the master tried to control. Well, looking back, Natsu cried after he finished off the fire. It wasn't from taste, Makarov knew. But it was more from the memories he had. That much he could tell.  
...

Lucy's new heels scuffed the ground.

"Natsu! Where are we going? We have been to every shop in Magnolia, fishing, eating, and playing. Where to now?"

Her feet ached from going to many places today. Natsu had told her it was her new shoes, but she vigorously denied it. She said, "shoes this cute don't hurt!" They really were cute, and they went with her new outfit so bonus! She wore a strapless, blue and yellow crop top with a sleeveless vest over top. On her arms were cut off ruffly sleeves. Her legs were somewhat covered by a mini skirt and tall socks, not to mention her key belt and new shoes.

"We are going to my place. Duh! I have a surprise for you there." That was the only response she got as she continued running.

Lucy was starting to get a little skeptical of his place because they were out in the woods. After a few more yards, a stone cottage came into view. It didn't look like it had the best of work done to keep it sturdy, but it was cute. Well, that's what she thought before she entered the house.  
It was a complete mess! Junk and garbage were laying on the floor, the furniture was in disarray, and there was even a tree growing through the floor!

"Eekk! What the hell happened in here?!" Lucy yelled.  
Natsu scratched the back of his head nervously. "Did I mention its kinda messy in here?"

"Kinda? KINDA?!" A vein in her head throbbed. "No matter," she calmly said. "We are going to clean this place up. We are going to start by picking up this trash." Lucy grabbed a garbage bag out of her pack and handed it to him. "Pick it up,"

Natsu didn't really know what to think of her mood swings. They were so... Erratic.

"Is she always like this?" He wandered to Happy.

"Aye."  
...

About six hours later, the house was cleaned. Well, Lucy's half anyway. She grunted as she got off the floor and picked up her soap bucket. The blonde celestial Mage walked over to Natsu's side of the house, only to be thoroughly surprised. It was actually clean. The floor was trash free and shiny. But there was no sign of the dragon slayer or his blue friend.  
Curious, she walked, bucket in hand, to his closed bedroom door. Lucy took a tentative step forward. She opened the door only to see two hammocks instead of one, and one hammock currently occupied by Natsu. He and Happy both had peaceful expressions on their faces as they slept. Lucy smiled.

A smirk grew on her face as she tiptoed toward the two. In between the hammocks was a nightstand. A box, similar to the one Natsu gave her all those years ago, sat next to a note that said "To Lucy From Natsu (duh)". She picked up the box and took off the ribbon.

Inside the box was a ring of keys. Zodiac keys. Nine of them to be exact. A gasp escaped her mouth. With a shaky hand. She stroked them lovingly. Then a question popped in her mind: how did he get those keys?

"Natsu... Natsuuu! NATSU!" Lucy yelled until her patience started growing thin and she dumped her bucket of suds and bubbles on him. With a start, him and Happy jumped up, almost knocking her out in the process.

"Good, you're up," Lucy gave a sheepish smile.

"What was that for?" He screeched. Natsu eyed the bucket in her hand and then saw the keys. "Oh, do you like them?" He grinned.

Lucy was stunned. How could he act like she never dumped water on his head?

"I-I love them. How did you get these? If you stole them, I don't want to know," Lucy cautiously said. Nastu just laughed and shook his head.

"Of course I didn't steal them! I went on missions for them. Duh!" He said that like it was completely obvious. Lucy blushed.

"Thank you so much Natsu! This is one of the best you or anyone has ever given me!" She flung her arms around Natsu. For a moment, all was quiet. A minute later, he pushed out of the hug to look Lucy in the eye.

"Now Luce," Natsu smirked. "Don't think I forgot how you woke us up,"

"Yeah Lushee. That was mean!"

Natsu winked at her before a split second later, he had bubbles in his hands and was chasing her around. Without thinking, Lucy ran out of the cottage and toward Magnolia. Natsu followed.

As you can imagine, the looks the couple got were ones of amusement and confusion. It had been months since anyone has seen Natsu like this, wait, it's been months since anyone in town has laid eyes on him. He was starting to get allusive as Guildharts.

Natsu and Lucy were almost to the guild when Lucy was trying to create a peace treaty between them. The dragon, however, didn't want peace. He wanted war. As soon as she realized this, she flung open the guild doors and hid in the corner behind Cana's old booze barrels.

A minute later, Natsu entered and he was eerily quiet. "Lucy... You can't hide forever..." The guild turned to stare at him.

"What are you doing pyro?" Gray asked. Natsu ignored him and brought the hand full of bubbles up to his face. "Wha?" Gray whispered.

Natsu sniffed the air for his friend for a second. He smiled when he found her scent. The smell hit him like a freight train. It was vanilla and hickory wood, with a mix of roses. Natsu decided he needed to go into ninja mode.

Ninja mode Natsu crept toward his friend's hiding spot with a smile, he pulled back a barrel and blew bubbles in her face.

"Now we're even!" He pulled Lucy out of the corner and spun her around. She laughed out loud while Happy flew around them in glee. This continued for a few minutes, but ended when they chased each other out the doors.

Fairy Tail was silent for a moment, Gray ruined the silence.

"What. Was. That?"


	4. Chapter 4

?

Lucy has been at the guild for three weeks and it already feels like home to her. Everyone was so kind and accepting, they made her feel like she belonged there. They even celebrated her birthday, when the time came.  
Currently, the celestial Mage and her pink haired dragon friend were residing in the guilds library. Lucy was reading to Natsu out of a book about dragon myths and legends. He would listen while she read. Well, more like he would give his opinion about what the book was saying or whether it was wrong or right.

"-the fearsome dragon roared at the onlookers in the arena. The knights continued throwing trash at his face, and all he could do was sit there and take it." Lucy read.

"False! The dragon would've broken out of those chains and killed the humans throwing stuff at him. Duh," Natsu rolled his eyes like it was the obvious thing in the world. Lucy giggled.

"I guess you're right. Though, the one dragon I met seemed like he wouldn't do that. " Lucy said.

He shook his head. "Nope! Igneel would've eaten them like it was nothing more than eating a breadstick. They would be his appetizer," Natsu said. Lucy rolled her eyes and switched books.

"How about we read the book about how the dragon saves the princess? This is the only book like it in this whole library. Plus I think you would find this very accurate, ne?" She giggled.

As she read, Natsu didn't say one word. He seemed almost as absorbed in the story as she was. The tragic story of a princess' quest for love and acceptance from her father hit her straight at her heart. By the end when the dragon saved the princess, Lucy's eyes started to water.

"H-hey Luce? Are you ok? It's just a story don't cry! Oh crap, crap, crap, crap. What do I do?!" He panicked. She wiped her eyes and smiled.

"I'm fine. I can just relate to this story. Can't you?"

"Yeah, I kinda can," he admitted. "But, we aren't in that story anymore now are we? Nope. We are in the story where the princess is happy a s safe because the dragon is with her. Geez, get with the program. I thought we were on the same page here," Lucy laughed.

"They lllliiiikkkee each other!" Happy purred.

"We do not!" They both yelled.

"What are you two lovebirds yapping about?" Gray, currently in the buff, asked when he walked through the library door.

"We aren't lovebirds!" Lucy screeched.

"What's a lovebird?"

"Well Natsu, it's not really a thing. It means-"

"Shut up!" Lucy screeched again when Gray tried to explain. "And put some clothes on!"

"Anyway," Gray said. "I came to remind you two that you need to find jobs before Master announces the people who will be representing Fairy Tail in the Grand Magic Games this year."

Natsu jumped up from his seat and ran towards the door.

"Luce! Stay here and don't leave until I get back I want to surprise you with the mission I am going to pick. Sergeant Happy, stay and make sure Private Lucy follows orders," Natsu said.

"Aye Captain Natsu!"

"Why am I Private Lucy?" She wondered aloud. Gray shrugged his shoulders and followed Natsu out the door.  
...

"Hmm..." Natsu stood at the request board in thought. He really wanted to take her on a fun mission, but it couldn't be too hard or too long. It wasn't that she wasn't capable of going on a hard mission, no she was more than capable in his opinion, it was just that Lucy felt like she can't handle missions like that. Why she thought that was a mystery to him. Couldn't see that she is strong? Stronger than him in some respects? Sometimes, Lucy felt like a mystery to Natsu.

He shook his head and tried to find a mission. All of the good ones had already been taken. All that was left was missions for defeating a Vulcan, capturing non-Mage bandits, capturing Mage bandits, guarding a member of the royal family and looking for lost treasure. Natsu sighed. Why must he get stuck with all of the crappy missions?

'No use in complaining about it. Man the hell up and pick one.' Natsu thought to himself. After some major mental debating, he grabbed the mission for defeating a Vulcan and took it to Mira.

"This one Mira!" Natsu called. Mira looked up from the spot on the bar she was cleaning and smiled.

"Going on another one before the teams are picked?" She asked. He nodded while she got the mission authorized. "Ok! You can leave now, but no later than tomorrow morning, remember."  
Natsu smiled ad started toward the library. He stopped when he heard the doors bust open.

"Where is your guild master?" A loud voice called. Natsu turned to the front of the guild where all of the members were crowding around each other. "Come on, I said where?!" The voice said again.

"I am here. Now why might I have the pleasure of the presence of the royal army?" Makarov asked.

Natsu felt a sense of unease overcome him. Why did they come here? Did they find Lucy? No, it was impossible. The whole time they called her Lucy Heart. Not Lucy Heartifillia.

A different voice spoke this time. "We are looking in each guild for a possible lead to the Lost Princess," the guild laughed. Natsu felt his neck hairs rise at the familiarity of the voice.

"If I may, the Lost Princess had been missing for more than ten years now. Why would you continue to look?" Makarov asked.

"The fate of the kingdom rests on finding her. Well, the heir to the throne at least. Now, if you don't mind, I need all female members to stand in front," the voice asked rather rudely.

One by one, each girl member present, besides Lucy, walked slowly towards the front. Once the crowd thinned a bit, Natsu could see what the person attached to the voice.

He was a man about a good half a foot shorter than Natsu. He had longish, wavy, black hair that looked greasy. The man wore a suit of armor with red and gold fabric acting as a shirt. Natsu actually realized why the man sounded familiar when he saw his face. On the left side of his face was normal with no marks or blemishes. The right side of his face was a huge scar that looked like it was cause from a burn. It started from the top of where is eyebrow used to be, and down to his chin. A giant scar ran over his eye. His gold eyes seemed to pierce every soul it touched.

Natsu unconsciously let out a loud growl.

This was the man who murdered Queen Layla.

The man who took away part of his happiness.

Gray looked over toward the growling man a raised his eyebrow. "What's wrong pyro? Scared of a little knight?"

Natsu glared at him. "No, boxer princess! I just don't like this man. The way he looks, smells, and acts. It brings up memories that make me angry," Gray shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't think I want to know."

"No you don't. Now, make sure nobody sees me climb the rafters," Natsu ordered and started climbing.

"Why should I do that?"

"Because I will roast you alive if you don't," there was not a hint of bluffing in his voice. Gray nodded unwillingly.  
Natsu silently thanked Gray and scaled up the wall and hopped on one of the rafters. Up here, he figured he could get a better view of this guy and what his intentions were. He prayed that Lucy wouldn't come out of the library like he asked.

The fire breather watched the knight carefully. Every step he took was documented, as was every blink or breath. Half way down the line, Natsu noticed a drunk Cana talking.

"What's your name anyway? And do we look like a guild that could house a princess?" She slurred.

"You're right about that. Your pathetic guild couldn't even begin to house this princess because of her refinement. And my name is Lord Takao, the knight." He replied. As he got closer to Cana, she continued to ask him questions. Most of them Natsu wanted to know the answers to.

"Why are you a knight anyway? You are really short. Wouldn't people just step on you?"

He snorted. "The king obviously saw something in me and made me a knight. I have protected his family on numerous occasions, protected him from assassins, and I have even watched over the princess with a watchful eye when she was little."

Cana laughed. "R-really? She said between drunken giggles. "Protected the princess? If you did such a good job, then how come you lost her? And what's with that scar anyways?"  
Natsu chuckled at Cana's reasoning of the whole situation. He really didn't do a good job of protecting the princess because she is now "Lost". Yeah, that's a good knight right there.

Natsu could see the fear in Takao's eyes. But it disappeared when he blinked.

"I got this scar on the night Princess Lucy ran away and Queen Layla died. It was tragic. I was trying to protect them both from a horrible dragon and his child," Takao said. There were gasps from all corners of the guild. Natsu hissed.

"Me and my men at the time were chasing the princess because she ran off. In the forest, we came face to face with a fire dragon and a small boy with pink hair." The guild was shocked. Who else has pink hair and is the child of a dragon?

"At first, the boy didn't look at all harmful, so we decided to go and remove him first. It was easy containing him in the beginning. Only when we saw he was trying to "protect" the princess is when things went down hill. Him and his dragon killed half of my men with one single blow. My upper guard and me lasted longer with him, until Queen Layla got hit and died. I don't think I have ever seen a child so mad and hurt looking in my life. Fire erupted around his feet as he ordered the princess to run. My men were going after her, but it was too late. Scales grew on his body and he made the rest of my guards drop and scream they were so terrified. The last thing I remember is him coming right at me. Then, I woke up in the castle infirmary and realized, the princess was gone." He hung his head in shame.

Cana stood slack jawed and wide eyed.

"But next time I see this boy, I will kill him. That's a promise."  
Makarov was the only one who didn't look fazed. But inside, he was freaking out. Was the Lucy in the library the princess? Was Natsu a bad person?

The master realized parts of Takao's story didn't add up. Why was Queen Layla there?

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see two figures with red eyes in the shadow. One was next to him and the other was in the rafters. The figure closest to him walked into the light.

"Gi-hee. So, Salamander can trigger Dragon Force on his own? And at that young too," Gajeel said.

"Hmmm. Takao's story doesn't make any sense. Why was the queen thee anyway?" Makarov asked. Gajeel shrugged.

"I know. The whole story of him being the 'Knight in Shining Armor', no pun intended, doesn't fit his profile. Not in the least bit. Now, we just need Salamander's opinion on this," Gajeel looked up and met a pair of glowing eyes.  
...

Natsu was royally pissed. Not a word of that man's story was right, nor made sense. Lucy and her mom were running away from the king and kingdom. It wasn't just Lucy. And a random hit from someone didn't kill Layla, no, that asshole down there killed her. Natsu saw it with his own two eyes! Igneel saw it too!

Just from this man walking through the door, Natsu's day was ruined. It started off good, with a Magnolia wide hide-n-seek with Lucy and Happy, then story time in the library, and they were going to go on a mission before the Grand Magic Games. But nooo, he had to show up and bring back bad memories.

Natsu could feel his frustration and anger levels rising at an alarming rate. Every time that man said a word, he felt like screaming. So, that's what he did.

"No! You are WRONG about everything!" He screeched. Everyone looked around trying to find the voice.

"Show yourself!" Takao demanded.  
Natsu jumped down, did a flip, and landed on his feet. "My pleasure," he replied.

Takao paled when he stood face to face with his own personal demon. Natsu Dragneel.

"Weren't expecting me to show up huh, you low life son of a bitch?" Natsu spat. "Everything you said was wrong. You weren't the saving grace, you didn't even feel anything when you killed Layla. I could see it in your eyes!"

The room around him got hotter so people had to take a step back.

After a moment, Takao replied, "I-I didn't see you here. So you joined a Mage guild huh? Figured as much. I saw your dragon leave after you turned back," he said in a hateful voice. Natsu growled.

"You have no idea what you did to me, Igneel, Layla, or Lu- the Princess." Natsu saved the last part.

"Do you know where the Princess is, Dragneel?" Takao spat.  
Natsu shook his head. "No fucking idea," he glared at him. They had a glaring contest until Takao drew out his sword and pointed it toward his neck.

"I am sure you do know where she is. But, I made a vow to myself I would kill you. Any last words?" The blade now pricked his neck.

"Yeah, I do. FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" A flaming fist slammed into the dazed knights face.

"That's it!" Takao called. "Mummy sword! Bond," the sword fanned out into different pieces, all aiming for Natsu. He smirked and dodged the ribbons of steel. Natsu landed nimbly on one of the tables.

"I'm all fired up!"  
...

Lucy looked up from her book and looked at the clock on the wall.

"Wonder what's taking him so long Happy. Maybe I should go see," Lucy wondered.

Natsu had been gone for a good half hour. Nobody had come into the library since he had left, so she started to worry.

"No!" Happy blocked the doorway with his wings. "Captain Natsu said stay in here until he got the mission. So we should stay in here. Plus, I am in charge and because of that, you will stay. That is an order Private Lucy!" He did a solute.

Lucy rolled her eyes and did a mock solute. "Yes Sergeant Happy," she turned away from the door and sat back in her place. There was an uncertain feeling in the back of her mind that something was wrong and that everything would change soon.  
...

"Mummy sword! Shape: monster!" The sword changed shape and became a steel Frankenstein.

"Fire dragon wing attack!" The metal melted under the heat. Takao hissed in frustration. That was the third time parts of his sword had melted. Once more, and the sword would be a puddle on the floor. So, Takao did the next best thing to, what he thought, weaken him; bring back old memories.

"Remember the feeling you had when we took you away from your precious dragon? Remember the pain you had when we kicked you?" Takao was spouting this out while he was dodging fire balls.

Natsu flinched. The feeling of heavy boots kicking you in the gut wasn't pleasant at all. "Yeah I do. I also remember the feeling when YOU snapped Layla's head. I saw it roll on her neck. I remember the sick smile on your face," he trembled. "I also remember the scared look on your face when I beat your sorry ass into next week. Now, I will do it again!" He ran forward and grabbed the man by his shoulders and flung him into the wall.

"Natsu! You need to stop!" Erza yelled. Natsu just ignored her.  
Again, again, and again Natsu threw Takao into the wall. When the knight continued to get up, Natsu felt like pulling out his hair.

"Why won't you die already?!" He cried in frustration.

"He-he's trying to kill him?" Gajeel said in shock. "Old man! Stop him! If he really has the intent to kill, Natsu's dragon side will take over and the guy will be as good as dead."

"What do you mean, dragon side?" Makarov asked.

"Salamander's power will increase, so will his speed and stamina. He is already in a murderous rage as it is, so if he goes off the deep end, so will his mind. That is when he will awaken Dragon Force. All dragon slayers can do it, including Wendy. We only need someone to hit a soft spot in his mind and we snap."

"Can you tell his soft spot?" Makarov asked urgently. "Maybe we can get him reassured that his soft part isn't in danger then he will stop."

"It's memories of Igneel, Queen Layla, and the Princess. But his underlying cause of this fighting is revenge and protection," Gajeel explained. "And he is protecting someone, well he thinks he is, that could kill him if he doesn't have them in his life. If that makes sense."

A blank look took over the mans face.

"The pyro has a mate. It's like what you humans call soul mates, except once we find our mates we can't live without them. We die inside without them. That's why Salamander over here has been depressed these past months. If he went on any longer, he would've gotten delirious and antisocial. So basically, the man in the armor has taken away his "family" and wants to take his mate. Not a good combo." Gajeel let out an exasperated sigh when he was done.

"Get Erza. Natsu's power is increasing at an unbelievable rate. Or better yet, get Gray to distract them. I want the kingdoms army the hell out of my guild before I crush everyone of them." Makarov's tone of voice shocked Gajeel, but he let it go and got Erza and Gray.

"This has already gotten out of control as it is. I was going to intervene anyway." Erza replied as she changed into her Flame Empress armor. She charged into the mayhem head on.

"Erza!" Gray yelled. "I have an idea!"

"Speak," she said. Gray explained his plan to her and she nodded in agreement.

"Ok. Oi Flame Brain! Don't you have to go on a mission with your team?" Gray called. Natsu quit punching Takao but kept his hold on his shirt.

"Oh crap! Let me finish this." Natsu dropped the almost unconscious man.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade!"

Bands of fire enveloped the room. When they dissipated, Takao was on the ground and barely breathing. Erza sighed and walked over to Natsu.

"Erza, what are you doi- offf!" Natsu fell to the floor under the pressure of her blow to the stomach. Makarov let out a sigh of relief.  
When all of the royal army was gone, the guild went quiet.  
...

"Come on Happy, let me out. It got quiet I want to see what's going on!" Lucy stomped her foot which made Happy frown.

"But Natsu said-"

"I don't care! Let me out!" Lucy pushed him out of the way and opened the door.

She was met by a trashed guild hall.

"What in the hell happened in here? And why is Natsu unconscious? Is he ok?!" Lucy panicked and ran over to the one table that want toppled over.

"We're fine thanks for asking," Gray said sarcastically. Erza hit his head for the comment. "Owww! But Natsu went apeshit on the royal army that came to look for the Lost Princess. Crazy right?" Another slap in the head.

"The royal army?" Lucy whispered in fear. She diverted her eyes from the curious guild members.

"You have a lot of explaining to do child," Makarov said. Lucy nodded sadly. She knew this day would come. Just not this soon.

**Ok so no chapter this weekend only next. And as promised to some, I posted this on Wednesday. Be happy!**

**Happy: Aye!**


	5. Chapter 5

?

On a hill in the middle of Crocus, was a castle fit for a king. Not just any king, King Jude Heartifillia.

The lone knight, Takao, entered the throne room covered in a full body cast. The king looked down on him with a scornful eye.

"Why do you come back empty handed knight?" He spat. "And why are you covered in bandages? This was supposed to be an easy job for you. But instead you come back with your ass kicked?! You have five minutes to explain everything,"

Takao bowed before he told his tale of the fire breathing monster that beat him yet again.

"-he was a hundred times stronger than when I first encountered him. He didn't go into Dragon Force, thank god, but his flames kept getting hotter and hotter. That's why almost all of my bones are broken or cracked, and why my whole body is one third degree burn," Takao kneeled down with tears in his eyes. Partially from pain and partially from failure.

Jude laughed darkly. "Well, I think I know how to get back my daughter and kill that beast just from your story,"

"H-how could we do that?" Takao wondered.

"It's simple. We need a slayer for the dragon slayer. But first, we wait," Jude tapped his fingers on his throne.

"Why wait sire? Wouldn't it be easier to attack him when he is at his weakest? When I fought him, I could sense underlying sadness when I brought up the Princess and the queen,"

"Because you idiot, we need to figure out just what we're up against here. And what better time than the Grand Magic Games? There, we can find his weaknesses and strengths. Then when we get all the information needed, we can acquire a dragon slayer's slayer. Now, leave me. I need to prepare. " Jude ordered. Takao bowed again and walked out of the huge mahogany doors.

When the doors slammed shut, king Jude let out a small chuckle.

"Little Lucy. Don't you know you can't hide behind that dragon forever? Come out and play."  
...

Natsu groaned as he sat up. At first he was completely disoriented from waking up in a room that wasn't his own.

When he sniffed the air, he immediately knew where he was: the infirmary. He checked over himself looking for any wounds but found none. Just little marks from where tiny scales crawled up his arm.

"Good morning Natsu!" A familiar voice said to his right.

"Good morning Luce!" He said and grinned. For some reason, a light blush fanned her cheeks. Natsu thought it was cute, but was kinda weary about her red flesh.

"Luce, your face is red. Do you have a fever?" He put his hand to her head but it got worse.

"N-no! I am fine Natsu really," Lucy hid her face. Natsu shrugged and slouched back.

"Well, I am not really ok," she admitted after a short silence.

"What's wrong?" Natsu started to worry a bit.

"I know my father's- I mean the king's army came to visit. I also know," Lucy got up and started pacing. "They wanted me and you beat the guy who killed my mother to a pulp. Erza told me she and Gray had to distract you so you wouldn't kill the man. But he was almost dead anyway." Natsu could see sadness in her eyes when she spoke of her mother. He could also see anger that her mother's murderer was still alive.

"I am sure Gray told you I went apeshit," Natsu rubbed is neck sheepishly.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Why are you sorry?" Lucy sat next to his head on the infirmary bed.

"Because I couldn't control myself. I was so close into telling him you were here. He kept taunting me... Some of the things he said were hurtful Luce. In the beginning, I was in the rafters watching the whole thing go down. Then he started taking about the third-degree burn that left a scar on his face. The whole story was how you and me got separated. He told it in his version to where he was the "knight in shining armor". How he was trying to save you from the monsters in the woods. I couldn't take how wrong that was. So, I set him straight and possibly letting people know your true identity," Natsu felt really bad about the whole situation, Lucy could tell.

"What's done is done Natsu. And I don't blame you for possibly tipping them off about my identity. They would've found out any way."

"Yeah, but if I hadn't have done that, we could've kept the peace with the kingdom a little bit longer. You see what I mean?" Natsu brought his hands to his face and covered his eyes.

Lucy just sighed. Of course he was right. If he hadn't had done that though, they most likely would've never have told the guild her real identity. She was about to tell him her thoughts, but stopped when the door opened.

Three figures entered the room, who she identified as Master Makarov, Wendy, and Porlyusica with a flying cat accompanying them.

"How are you Natsu-san?" Wendy skipped over to his bedside and started to check his vitals. Lucy took this as her cue to stand next to the bed rather than sit on it.

"I feel great Wendy. Thanks for healing me!" He grinned his big toothy grin to the young sky Mage. Wendy blushed.

"So," Makarov sighed. "You said you would explain your situation Lucy?"  
Lucy sighed and sat on the bed again. This time, Natsu sat up so she could lay on the bed with him. When she sat down, he put his hand in hers and started to explain most everything. Lucy got about as much time to speak as Natsu did just before the door opened again to reveal Erza.

"Master, you wished to speak with me as soon as I came in today?" Erza spoke. Master nodded.

"Get as many people that were in the guild hall yesterday as you can."

"May I ask why...?" She wondered. He shook his head. She bowed and went to carry out her duty.

"What are you planning Master?" Lucy said.

"Yeah, Jii-chan," Natsu agreed.

Makarov looked at his 'children'. "I have an idea. Instead of explaining your secret Lucy, Porlyusica and I make a powder that can seal memories. When the powder does the trick, there is a spell that can replace the lost memory."

Lucy and Natsu gasped. Wasn't that going under their friend's noses? They knew it was risky to have their friends know their secret, but did they have to go to these lengths to do so?

"B-but, wouldn't that make us bad people? And what happens when people ask them about what happened? What would they say? Would they remember?" Lucy was panicking, her eyes looking back and forth. So much could go wrong if that happened...

"We have created a fake memory for them to have. They will remember everything when either you, Natsu, Wendy, Happy, Carla, Porlyusica or I make them remember. The memory is just sealed, not erased." Makarov tried to calm down the spirit holder, and it worked.

"What is the memory going to be?" Natsu wondered. Makarov smiled at him.

"It's you beating everyone in a fight, Natsu-san! But, when you won, you almost passed out from magic power exhaustion. I thought if they were going to forget, I might as well let you have some fun with it!" Wendy replied and blushed.

"Yosh! I'm all fired up!" Fire jutted from his hands. Lucy covered his fist with her hand to put it out.

"Not to loud!" She hissed.

"Shut up you noisy humans!" Porlyusica barked. A tick mark appeared above her head.

"A-aye!" They squeaked.

"Master! Everyone is here and accounted for," Erza entered the door way. Makarov nodded and motioned for everyone in the room to follow him to the balcony.

Lucy helped Natsu stand for a moment. They both looked at each other before stepping out if the room. Lucy was undoubtedly nervous. She knew she would feel bad about it later, just not so much now.

"Oh! Master!" Lucy whispered in his ear before he addressed the guild.

"What will happen if they say something before the powder takes effect?"  
Makarov shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there," then he left her.

"It's gonna be ok Luce," Natsu said in her ear. She felt chills run up and down her back when he spoke. Not the bad, scared kind, no, the pleasant and addicting kind. Sensing the unease still in her, he slung his arm around her shoulders as they walked.

Turning the corner, Lucy just now fully realized how big the guild was. You couldn't even see the floor close to the stairs and balcony. Members were bunched together like cows going through a chute. Some of the members looked impatient, curious, annoyed, betrayed, and skeptical. Lucy couldn't blame them for any of the emotions she was seeing. Natsu looked kinda on edge as he drew back his arm from her shoulders. She missed the heat it brought, but stood quiet.

"Ok brats listen up! I know some if you want answers, and we, or they," he gestured toward Natsu and Lucy,"Just not now. For the moment, I need all of you to close your eyes," they did. "Good. Now stand still for a second. Now remember this, I am doing this because I care for you,"  
Erza, eyes still closed, spoke out. "What is this master?"

"Wendy! Now!"

"Hai!" She used the air to float above the guild. Wendy sprinkled the gold dust on the members while Makarov recited spells.

"Memorīshīru!"  
Memory seal!

"Memori wa kōkan suru!"  
Memory replace!

With out a moments notice, everyone effected by the dust was in the ground, knocked out cold. Wendy dropped down to the balcony again and ran down the stairs with Porlyusica following, hands full of bandages.

"Why does she need bandages?" Natsu asked. His question was short lived when he saw bruises, cuts, scratches, and scorch marks appear on all of the members.

"What is happening?" Lucy was shocked beyond belief. Did they just intentionally hurt them?

"We had to make it seem like they got in a fight. These "injuries" won't hurt or threaten their health. Just when they wake up, they will be sore," Makarov explained. He was about to say something until he was interrupted by the all mighty Porlyusica.

"Get down here and trash the place! Maybe burn it too. We need to create an atmosphere that makes sense to what happened." She ordered. Natsu and Lucy quickly ran down the stairs.

Avoiding the people on the floor, they turned over tables and broke chairs. Lucy wasn't good at being destructive, so she called out Loke (he doesn't like to be called Leo) and Taurus to help her. Natsu at one point was walking on the side of the wall, burning it with his feet and hands. At one point, he just attacked the wall and made sure to leave a place without any scorch marks to make it look like a person was standing there.  
When the damage was done, Natsu and Lucy leaned against the counter, watching Wendy and Porlyusica finish wrapping the last wound on Erza. Somehow, they got her armor to change into Flame Empress. How, was still a mystery to Lucy but she mentally dropped the subject.

"We're done! They should wake up in about half hour. Now, we have just got to play our parts right. Right Carla?" Wendy called to the Exceed who was sitting next to Happy in the rafters.

"Tom cat! Quit getting fish guts everywhere!" She gripped. "But yes, just don't mess anything up Natsu. You got it?"

"Why does everyone think I will screw it up huh? I don't do everything wrong..." Natsu turned back around in his bar stool and starting eating his shared piece of cake again. Lucy took a bite from it before talking.

"You do have tendencies like that, Natsu. Sorry, but its true," Lucy patted his head. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Yeah, whatever. Oh hey, Jii-chan! Who is going to the Grand Magic Games this year?" Natsu asked.

"I was thinking it be Erza, Gray, Wendy, You, and Lucy." Makarov said.

"W-wait, me?" Lucy stuttered.

"No. She can't go," Natsu stood up and slammed his fist on the bar.

"And why can't she come?" Makarov asked.

"Because... Because... I don't want her to get hurt. I am not saying she's not strong, it's just, I think that if the other competitors see that she isn't a strong as them, no offense, she will be the first to go down. They will pick her out first and might do the most damage." Natsu crossed his arms.

"You llliiikkkee her!" Happy purred.

"Shut up you damn cat!" Natsu yelled.

"You're so mean! Meaner than Lucy!"

"Come on Happy, I'm not that mean,"

"Hey!" Lucy squeaked.

Makarov snorted. "If they do that to anyone of our members, there will be hell to pay and you know that. But if they do that to Lucy, a new war will break out, where the guild responsible will be taken out by us and the person responsible for hurting Lucy will be all yours. Are we clear?"

Natsu nodded in agreement. Lucy put a comforting hand on his arm and smiled. "None of that is going to happen though. You are just being paranoid!"

Natsu chuckled. Leave it to Lucy to be optimistic.

The next few minutes went by slowly. One by one the guild members woke up. Natsu grinned when they were all awake. He now took this time to gloat and brag about his "victory".

"Ha! The Great Demon Lord Dragneel strikes again! I won! I won!" Natsu jumped on the bar and did a victory dance.

Most of the guild members looked at him in fear. Some were not too surprised that he "beat" them. But Erza, Gray, Gajeel, and Laxus were pissed that they lost. Well, beyond pissed in the male population's case, Erza however congratulated him on "beating" her.

"Impressively done Natsu. You have gotten strong," Erza ex-quipped into her regular armor and hugged him.

"H-hard," he stuttered as his head hit her breastplate.

"Dammit! That fuckin Salamander got the best of me. I will not lose again Dragneel!" Gajeel cursed.

"Man, I am sore all over thanks to ash-for-brains over here," Gray pouted in the corner.

"I can't believe the all mighty Laxus was beaten!" A distraught Freed cried out. Laxus huffed in annoyance.

"Quiet down brats! Now that you guys got your fighting out," Makarov looked over at Natsu who gave him a thumbs up. "We are going to organize teams for the Grand Magic Games that are coming up in three months!

"Here's how they will go:

Fairy Tail Team A:  
Erza Scarlet  
Gray Fullbuster  
Wendy Marvell  
Natsu Dragneel  
And Lucy Heart."

Team Natsu (as they called it) grinned at each other.

"Fairy Tail Team B:  
Gajeel Redfox  
Juvia Lockser  
Mirajane Strauss  
Laxus Dreyar  
And Cana Alberona.

Any questions? Good. You have three months to train. I suggest you get started! We will not stand for second place again this year. No, we will get the 30,000,000J! I mean, be the number one guild in Fiore!" Makarov shouted. Everyone cheered.

"Yosh! I'm all fired up! How about you Happy? Luce?" Natsu was obviously excited.

"Aye!" They both said, which earned a laugh from Natsu. He slung his arm around them both and smiled. Unknown to them, Reedus was painting a picture of their happy little family.

"You ready?!" Makarov yelled.

The guilds last unison reply for the whole night was...

**"I'M ALL FIRED UP!"**

**...**

**Yay! Another chapter! Sorry I didn't post it yesterday, it's just been hard for me to focus lately. I know this chapter probably sucked, but it had to be done. Now the next few chapters will be fun to write! Its gonna be the Grand Magic Games: My version! See, won't that be fun?**

**Natsu: Yeah, fun. But with your mind right now, I don't know what you define as fun anymore. All I am getting is a bunch of new ideas for a story that you might post soon, your thinking about that guy who you have to translate for (He's an asshole in my opinion) and you keep thinking about chapters that are gonna be wayyy off into the future. **

**Me: Natsu! You gave away to much! *sigh* but yeah, I am thinking about making another story called FTIS (or the Fairy Tail NCIS!). I don't know though. I will need support from you guys to make it happen. If I do that, you will get updates every two weeks instead of one. I would just alternate weeks on updating. **

**So... Any thoughts? Please review aI seriously need to know...**

**Have a nice Monday/week!**

**Gajeel: Who is she kidding? Mondays suck Dragon Balls...**

**Levy/Me: GAJEEL! **


	6. Chapter 6

?

_Dear Mamma,_

_This year has been one of the best in my life. I met Natsu and his guild. I love my new nakama_. _They care about me for me. Well, the only part of me that they know of. They celebrated my birthday; even though they only knew me for three days. Fairy Tail is the best!_

_I figured out what that mark on my key pouch that Igneel gave me was. It was the guilds symbol oddly enough. Do you think Igneel could've planned this? Who knows._

_As I was saying, I love Fairy Tail. Though, about three months after I joined, my past caught up with me. He was there, Mamma. That's right. Your murderer: Takao. He came looking for me and Natsu stopped him. I wasn't there when it happened. I was in the library thank god. From what I heard from Gray, before Erza knocked him out, was that, excuse my French, Natsu went apeshit on Takao. Gajeel said he was trying to kill him. From what I saw, Natsu was very close to success. Takao was barely breathing when the master kicked him and his men out. I am so thankful I didn't get caught._

_But, it got better. I was one of the ten chosen to participate in the Grand Magic Games (GMG). For the past three months, my team, Fairy Tail team A, have been training. I can now open four gates without breaking a sweat. The fifth one is kind of tricky, but I am handling it. I can also now control my necklace. It has more power than I originally thought. With Natsu's help, we discovered spells that can attack and protect me and whoever I choose. I also figured out fire doesn't burn me anymore! It never really has once I think about it..._

_Anyway... All of the Fairy Tail mages have improved greatly. Erza's armor changes are faster than ever before. Wendy's attacks have gotten greater and her healing powers have gotten stronger. Gray's ice make magic has also improved. And Natsu, his power has almost tripled. He had been working with Gajeel and Wendy to improve their Dragon Slayer magic. They're all so close to dragon force, I can literally feel their power grow around them. All of them are so amazing! You and Igneel would be so proud of Natsu right now. I know I really am. The whole guild is._

_I better go now Mamma. The train is about to be in Crocus. This really brings me back... Most of my experience here isn't so good, so I shouldn't think about it._

_I miss you Mamma, we all do. I will write again each day of the games_.

~Love,  
Your Lucky Lucy.  
...

Lucy stamped on the wax seal and placed the letter in her letter box. Currently, her and some of her fellow guild mates were in a private car, packing up. Natsu was laying on the day bed hanging his head out of the window. Lucy giggled at his face. It was green and puffy with sweat running down his neck.

"Lucy," Erza said. "Are you ready to get off? The conductor is almost at our car," she said. Lucy nodded and grabbed her and Natsu's bags. Surprisingly, Natsu brought a bigger bag than her. It was heavy, so he probably brought his rock collection with him.

When the train came to a complete stop, Natsu jumped out of his funk. He grabbed his pack and his bag from Lucy. "I am REVIVED!" He screamed.

"Aye!" Happy cheered. Lucy giggled.

"Come on! Lets see the city. Where are we anyway?" Natsu scratched his head in confusion.

"You seriously don't know where we are?" Carla rolled her eyes.

"Pathetic,"

"Carla!" Wendy scolded.

"Wow flame brain. We're in Crocus. Ya know, the Capitol city?" Gray snorted in annoyance.

"What'd you call me stripper?" Natsu got in Gray's face.

"Clean the ash out of your ears! I called you flame brain Baka!"

"Ice princess,"

"Pyro,"

"Droopy eyes,"

"Squinty eyes,"

"That's it! I'm gonna-"

"Boys!" Erza's voice boomed. "Are we fighting?"

"N-no! We're just being friends!" The stuttered at the same time.

Lucy and Wendy walked around them to get out of the train car. The platform was packed with mages from all around Fiore. Children were running around, trying to find their parents while others were just fighting. Some of the mages there Lucy recognized immediately. There was Quattro Cerberus, who was howling after yelling "WILD..." "FOUR!" Sadly, Twilight Ogre was there, snickering at something in the corner. They could also spot out Mermaid Heel and Blue Pegasus.

"Oh," a familiar voice called. "Lucy-san! I see you found Fairy Tail?" Lucy turned around to see Master Bob, looking as strange as always.

"Hello, Master Bob. Yes I did find Fairy Tail. Thank you for all your help. Me and Happy really appreciated it. Are you here for the games?" Lucy asked.  
Master Bob put his hand on his check and blushed. "Of course we are Lucy-san! This year, the Trimens and Jenny are participating. Isn't that wonderful? Now, who is with you?"

"Oh! Pardon me, this is Wendy," Wendy mumbled a greeting. "Erza, Gray, and Natsu are on Fairy Tail team A. We have a team B, but you will meet them soon," Lucy motioned over toward the train.

"Natsu-kun will be here? This is a very unexpected surprise. Where is he so I can say... Hello?" Master Bob looked frantically around to try to catch a glimpse of pink hair. As if on cue, the rest of Team A stepped off the train. Of course, Natsu was in front with a bump on his head and Happy on his shoulders.

"Hey Luce!" Natsu waved at her and Wendy. He paled slightly when he saw Bob with hearts floating around his head.

"Hello Natsu-kun! It's been too long!" Bob tried to hug him, but Natsu ran and his behind the girls.

"Not long enough apparently," Natsu mumbled.

Bob was about to reply, only to be interrupted by the rest of Fairy Tail getting off of the train. Master Makarov was leading the pack when walking to the station exit. Each member had a bag with them, some bigger than others.

"Oh my," Bob whispered. "We better get going. I will see you later Natsu-kun!" He hovered off with only Jenny following. Bob turned around in wonder. "Where are-?"

"You look beautiful today, Miss Lucy," a guy with strawberry blonde hair said.

"Beautiful is an understatement," a blonde kid said.

"How can you be so damn fashionable?" The talk, dark, and handsome man asked Lucy. Lucy blushed.

"Men! Quit being rude. Introduce yourselves," a voice said.

"I am Hundred Night Hibiki."

"I am Holy Night Eve."

"And I am Silent Night Ren."

"I am Ichiya. And we are... The Trimens! Now to more pressing issues. Erza, I have longed to see you my honey,"

3...2...1...

"MY HONEY?!" Happy and Lucy screamed.

"I vigorously deny everything!" Erza sputtered.

Natsu was about to laugh. About to. The only thing that was holding him back was the lustful stares Lucy and Wendy were getting from those playboys. The itching feeling on Natsu's neck told him he had to stop that first. He didn't know why, but he had that sudden urge...

"Come on Luce! Lets go look around. This place has really changed since we were here last," he tied to draw her attention away from them. It worked.

"Ok! I really wanted to check out this magic shop and book store, if its ok with you," Lucy started walking away, leaving a group of disappointed guys behind her.

"Lucy-san!" Wendy called. "Your luggage! What do you want is to do with it?"

"Can you take it back to the inn for me?" Lucy asked.

"Hai!"

"Just remember," Erza said. "Be back at the inn by midnight or we will be disqualified!"

"Right!" The couple yelled while running off.  
...

"Ooo, Natsu look at this! Doesn't it look like a dragon?" Lucy held up a little glass figurine from a street vendor's cart.

"It does look like one! But it's blue. Why not red?" Natsu crosses his arms. Happy rolled his eyes.

"Not every dragon is red silly," Lucy giggled. They walked along the street as the sun started to set.

Crocus really had changed. The streets were wider, the stores were bigger, and the flowers didn't look as bright. The people have also changed. Sometimes people changing was good, but not in this case. Shop owners were pickier about their clientele than she had ever seen before. The magic shops looked bare compared to a while back. They only had most of the common stuff found in every magic shop in Fiore. Nothing exciting there.

The only thing that has gotten better, was the river street cafés. The edge of the river, was lined with little restaurants and bakery's. Natsu and Happy's mouth started to water at the smell.

"Oh my god," Natsu moaned. "This place smells delicious!"

"Aye sir!" Happy drooled.

Lucy could feel her sweat drop. She giggled. "Well pick a place to eat. I will buy, but you need to be careful on how much you eat. I still want to get to the book and one magic store before they close,"

"I'll just buy then. Lets go to this one. The food smells the best," Natsu pointed a café with outdoor only seating. It was close to the water, with only a wrought iron fence separating land from river. The setting sun gave it a sorta romantic feel to it. Lucy could already feel the blush coming to the surface.

"O-ok," she stuttered. Natsu gave her one of his signature breathtaking smiles.

"Come on!" With one tug, she was sprinting toward the café.  
...

"That was a good meal. Thank you Natsu," Lucy hugged him and Happy when they were finished.

"No problem!" He smiled. Thank god it was dark so she couldn't see him blush. "Where to next? Books, or magic?"

"The book store is closer. Lets go there," she grabbed his hand and walked toward the shop.

Lucy was far from disappointed when she opened the doors. Hundreds, no thousands of books lined the tall book shelves. All new looking, with hardly and dust on their spines.

"This is amazing!" Lucy squealed in delight. Happy and Natsu gave her unintentional dirty looks. "What?"

"How could you like these things? They aren't even fish!" Happy threw his hands up in defeat.

"Well, you certainly like them when I read them to you," she countered.

"Touché, touché..." Happy muttered.

Lucy smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. I think I am going to look around some. I should be back in a few minutes. Happy stay with Luce while I am gone." Natsu tucked his hands behind his head and walked out of the store.  
...

The air around him was cool and thick as he walked down the suspiciously quiet streets. Wasn't this place packed just ten minutes ago? An ominous aura floated around the dark streets in waves. So, to say the least, he was on edge. The bad feelings didn't stop there, for some reason he felt like he was being watched. But when he would turn around to look, nobody would be there. Just the inky blackness of the alleyways were there to greet him.

"Hello young lad. Care to spare a Jewel or two for a glimpse to the future?" A scratchy old woman voice said from somewhere in the darkness. "Come on now, I won't bite."

With a snap of his fingers, a warm light enveloped the space. At the entrance to the alley on his right, was a very short old woman with a purple turban on her head. She was dressed in a red cloak with gold swirling patterns decorating the exterior. Her eyes were small and black from what he could tell. Little wisps of silver hair escaped her turban and covered her face.

Natsu cautiously took a step closer to the small woman. "Who are you?"

"My name is not important right now. For all you need to know is the future. Come now, sit," she said.

Natsu took a step back, only to be brought froth by the snap of her fingers. "H-hey! What was that for you old hag?" Natsu yelled and crossed his arms.

"Now, now child. No need to be so cruel with your words. I have only done that to give you a glimpse of what is to come,"

"Yeah, yeah, you've said that already. If your going to do something, do it fast. My friends are waiting on me," Natsu snapped.

The old woman furrowed her brow in concentration. A second later, the crystal ball that was in front of her started to glow. At first the picture was hazy, but then it cleared. Natsu could make out a figure of a screaming Lucy being carried over someone's shoulder. Her pretty face was a sickening combination of black and blue with streams of red falling down around her. Natsu's eyes widened in fright.

"H-how could this happen?" He whispered.

"I could add sound if you like. Only you could hear it though. I will warn you, what has been heard, cannot be unheard."  
Natsu nodded. Looking back on it, he wished he couldn't hear it.

_Inside the globe..._

_"Natsu!" Lucy gave a blood curtailing scream. _

_"Quiet princess," her captor sneered. "That little matchstick won't be here to save you,"_

_"No. You're lying! NATSU!" Lucy screamed again. _

_The man carrying her gripped her tighter and pulled her off his shoulder. Lucy looked up at him with fear filled eyes. _

_"Your friend is dead. D.E.A.D. Nobody is going to save you now so shut up you stupid bitch!" The man roared. _

_"Natsu. No no no no, not Natsu. He and Happy were all I had left. NATSU COME BACK!" Tears came out of her eyes like a waterfall. The man slapped her. She cried out in even more pain. _

_"God why won't you shut up?!" He pushed her to the ground and kicked her repeatedly until she was unconscious. "Great. Now the boss is going to be mad at me. Lets just be thankful we can restore that pretty little face of yours," he then again picked her up and the screen went black. _

_Out of the globe..._

Natsu fell off his chair in shock. All of those things happening to Lucy... How? And he couldn't be dead! Right? Natsu had no time to figure this out. Quickly, he sprung up and headed for the book shop. Behind him, he could barely hear the old woman.

"You poor soul. That isn't even a small portion of the pain she will suffer."  
...

Natsu hurriedly ran through the again crowded streets. When he caught sight of the book store, he could see Happy and Lucy laughing at a table, waiting for him to come back so they could continue shopping. When his eyes picked up Lucy's necklace glowing brighter than usual, her eyes looked out the window and met his. When Natsu was close enough, he kicked open the door and practically leaped over chairs to get to Lucy.

"Natsu what are you-" she was cut off by his bone crushing hug. "Natsu," she whispered returning the hug. "What's wrong? You act like you just saw a person die,"

Natsu shivered. The person he saw almost died.

"I was so worried," he mumbled. Lucy drew back from him some but still clung to his scarf.

"About what?"

"Nothing that matters right now. But for the rest of the games, I will sleep in your bed and be with you all the time. Happy, you too," he almost sounded like he was at the point of tears. "Please don't ask why. Just please let me," he pleaded.

Lucy agreed. If he was scared this much about something, and he really needed her, who was she to say no?

"I think we need to go back to the inn. Can you carry me?" Lucy asked. Natsu picked her up on his back and Happy sat on his head, stroking a spot behind his ears just how he liked.

The whole walk/run back to the inn was quiet. All you could hear from them was an occasional whimper from Natsu when Lucy clung to him too tight. When they got to their teams room, Lucy got down and opened the door.

"Oi, matchstick. Where ya been?" Gray asked. Natsu flinched at the term 'matchstick'.

"What's wrong Natsu?" Erza sounded concerned as she got up from her bed and walked toward him.

"What is wrong, Natsu-san?" Wendy asked.

"I am going to bed," Natsu mumbled. He was about to his, Lucy, and Happy's shared room when Gray stuck a hand out to stop him.

"I just called you a matchstick, pyro. Why aren't you starting a fight?"

Natsu turned his head and glared at the ice Mage. In a flash, he slammed Gray's body into a coffee table. With the same venom in his voice as he used in the memory implanted in most of the guild member's heads, he growled "Don't call me matchstick. Ever. Again. Or I will burn you into ashes."

Natsu slammed his room door. Erza was about to knock some sense into him but Lucy and Happy shook their heads and headed into the room with Natsu.

"What was that for?" Erza wondered.

"Don't mess with Natsu for the next few days," Carla mumbled from the corner.

"Why?"

"Because his world is about to change. He knows it for a fact. Don't get in his way or pick fights for a while,"

"Again, why?" Erza snapped.

"Because! He saw something that would screw anyone up. Don't ask what it is because I won't tell. All I know is, is that Natsu's foes in the games don't stand a chance with him like this," Carla left them with that.

...

**Me: Ok! Thats a wrap people!**

**Natsu: Finally you post this! Why would you keep them waiting?**

**Me: *sigh* You know why. That asshole I have to translate for keeps failing his English class and I have to spend my time tutoring him. **

**Gajeel: There is another reason and I like this one, Gi-hee. **

**Me: Of course you would. I got detention because I punched a guy in the nose and broke it. What? He called my best friend fat. I was not having that crap. **

**Natsu: At least the people get a new chapter next week! Right?**

**Me: No. I am going to update my other story. Sorry, no chapter next week!**

**Lucy: WHAT?! Come on! Seriously?**

**Me: Whale aren't you moody today? *starts stupid argument***

**Wendy, Gajeel, Natsu: TIVANALUKICK4EVS DOES NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL! *gets caught in argument also***


	7. Chapter 7

?

**Hello people! I know I have been gone for a while now. It upsets me so much you have no idea. My grandpa had to have quadruple bypass surgery and I couldn't write. Also, one of my best friends almost committed suicide, so my mind was just torn to pieces. I cannot stress enough how much it hurts me to know people are trying to kill themselves everyday because of abuse. It's just sickening. And I have one more reason for not posting a new chapter. **

**Is it... A.) I had to go to a party yesterday**

**or. B.) My unicorn got loose so I had to go get it. **

**If you guessed B you are totally right. Psht, I don't have friends! Who needs them right guys?**

**Fairy Tail Cast: ...**

**Soul 'Eater' Evens: Not cool...**

**Maka: Hey! We aren't aloud in here! MAKA-CHOP!**

**Me: *sweat drops* Wrong story guys! Now, I just need some one to do the disclaimer... I guess it won't be anyone from FT because they are mad at me... Death the Kid you're up!**

**D.T.K: This very unsymmetrical human being doesn't own Fairy Tail**

The whole palace was abuzz with life as the first day of the Grand Magic Games was about to start. Maids were getting the rooms ready for the important guests who were visiting to watch the games. This year it was an even bigger deal because the illusive Natsu Dragneel was coming out of the shadows. Along with the rumors of a new female member, the games should be a huge success. Already, the stadium was half full with people who were too excited to wait for the official start time.

The only person who wasn't happy for the games was King Jude himself. He was pacing rather impatiently in his study for an unknown reason.

"Where is he?" He muttered.

Takao glanced bordly at Jude. "Who sire?"

"The man who can do chores that you can't even do. The one man who can get the job done right the _first time,_" Jude spat. "His title is the 'Dragon Hunter'. You shall treat him with respect. Ah, here he comes now."

The huge throne room doors opened to reveal a man with a pretty decent build, wearing a face covering cloak. The room was so quiet, the only thing you could hear was the unusual nawing of rock. Noticing the silence, King Jude coughed in a dignified matter.

"Welcome to Crocus! I hope to hear your journey wasn't too awful?"

Silence.

"I get paid right when the job is done right?" The man stopped chewing.

"R-right. Your job is to bring me my daughter and her dragon slayer. Or you can kill him. I prefer for her not to know that I want him as well. I think you know the drill," Jude mumbled the last part dryly.

The man nodded and exited the room.

"Now we just wait."

**Fairy Tail Team A: Natsu and Lucy**

Natsu slowly opened his tired eyes. He hasn't gotten much sleep that night. Lucy's strangled cries for help bothered him to no end. Every hour, we woke up to see of Lucy was still asleep beside him. Much to his relief, she was.

"Good morning sleepy head," Lucy walked out of the on-suite bathroom with wet hair. "I thought you might've missed the first day!"

"Nah, I am awake now. Do you want me to dry your hair?" Natsu asked while he picked up a sleeping Happy from the bed.

"N-no. I'm fine," she stuttered. Natsu lifted an eyebrow. "Ok, you can dry it," she huffed.

As Natsu was walking to the couch, his stomach rumbled. He grinned sheepishly before he ran out the door. "One second!" Minutes later, he came back in with a fish wrapped in paper. "I just ate. It's for Happy," he explained. "Now sit on the floor."

Lucy did as she was told. She was actually happy she gave into him so he could dry her hair. The feel of his fingers running through her hair was surprisingly pleasing. When his fingers touched her neck she felt all of her nerves go on high alert. Her necklace grew warm and bright. While he worked on her hair, she would start humming a song Igneel taught them when they were kids. Soon after she started humming, Natsu caught on and hummed with her. When that song ended, they would go through the songs Layla taught them.

_I'm not surprised, not everything lasts_

_I've broken my heart so many times I stopped keeping track_

_Talk myself in, I talk myself out_

_I get all worked up then I let myself down_

_I tried so very hard not to loose it_

_I came up with a million excuses_

_I thought, I thought of every possibility_

_And I know some day that it'll all turn out_

_You'll make me work so we can work to work it out_

_And I promise you kid that I give so much more than I get_

_I just haven't met you yet_

Lucy hummed while Natsu sang it softly. When her hair was dry, he stopped singing much to her disappointment. He was a really good singer, he just chose not to let anyone know that.

"Do you like it?" Natsu snapped her out of he thoughts by holding up a mirror. She smiled when she noticed he curled it lightly and put her signature ribbon in it.

"It's so pretty. Thank you for doing that for me," she looked over her shoulder to see his signature grin.

"Your hair is always pretty Luce. I just added a ribbon to it," Natsu said. A blush fanned Lucy's cheeks.

"Natsu, you realize you said 'pretty' and 'Lucy' in the same sentence right?" Happy sleepily said while he stretched.

"I will skin you alive and make your pelt into a purse, you damn cat!" Lucy growled.

Natsu laughed when Happy jumped into his pink hair. "Yes Happy. I meant to do that."

"Humph. Now I am going to change into my outfit instead of my lazy clothes. Tell Erza, Wendy, and Gray I will meet them in the lobby. Don't forget Happy's fish on the coffee table," Lucy said.

"Sure sure. Don't take to long!" Natsu and Happy walked out the door.  
Lucy smiled and shook her head.  
...

"Let's go down stairs!" Natsu yelled. Erza looked to see if anyone was behind him.

"Where's Lucy?" Erza asked.

"She is changing. Luce said to go to the lobby and she will be down in a minute," Natsu ran toward the door. When he was out, Happy floated slowly behind him.

"This is a really good fish..." The door closed.

"He seems more relaxed," Wendy observed.

"Hmm. Carla, can you see anything happening to him today?" Erza asked.

"Why are you doing that? I don't think it was him he was freaking out about. He doesn't do stuff like that. Flame brain is the kind of person who does that for others," Gray leaned against a corner with his arms crossed.

"Still, we need to be careful about the situation. So far, we know not to make him angry again. For all we know, he could unleash the power that he used at the guild again." Erza glared at the ground. "Power like that..." She shivered.

"I know," Gray replied.

Carla searched through the day for anything that would set Natsu off. Her eyes snapped open when she saw she never wanted to see. Her eyes were wide with fright of what was to come.

"N-no. Lucy... Natsu... There's more of them?!" Carla rambled.

"What's wrong?!" Wendy asked worriedly.

"N-nothing. I don't sense anything bad for us today."

"I asked you to search for Natsu. Not us," Erza fumed.

"I mean, nothing bad will happen to us because of him. I can't say the same thing for the other teams..." Carla drifted off. "Let's go to the lobby now. Lucy should be out shortly."

"Sure," Wendy said questingly.  
...

"Aggghh! What is taking her so looonnng?" Natsu and Happy said in unison. "Couldn't she just have kept on what she was already wearing?"

"No Natsu. From what I have observed over the years, is that girls obsess over stupid things like if a belt matches with your shoes or not," Happy said from Natsu's pink locks.

"Who cares? Nobody would judge her with the clothes she had on."

"What exactly was she wearing?" Macao and Wakaba asked eagerly.

"A white shirt with the thin straps. What is that called again?" He turned to Happy.

"A tank top."

"Yeah that! It was in a V-shape around the neck with really tight sweat pants. Why do you want to know?"

Macao and Wakaba along with some other men guild members were trying to cover up their nosebleeds. "No reason."

Natsu just shrugged and continued to moan with boredom. When would she come down? Multiple times he considered checking on her but Erza's watchful gaze stopped him. Why she was that way, he could only guess.

"Sorry it took me so long! I couldn't find my shoes," Lucy jogged over to the guild that came with both teams. Without opening his closed eyes, he replied to her.

"You know, they were right next to the bed on my side right?"

"I figured that out the long and hard way. I could've sworn they were on my side of the bed. Why were they in your side?"

"Remember?" Natsu opened his eyes and winked. She gave him a small sly grin.

"Oh how could I forget? That was fun!" Lucy said.

Across the room, Mirajane's ears perked up. "My match-making senses are tingling."

The duo, along with Happy, grinned. "By the way, why are most of the male population standing in the corner with bloody noses?" Lucy pointed to most of the perverted mages.

"I have no idea. But it might have something to do with your clothes. At least, that's what I hear them talking about." Lucy looked down to see if something was wrong with her attire. She had on a blue coat, like the one Natsu always wears, with the top not buttoned up all the way because they wouldn't go together. Aside from that, she had on really short white shorts with her key pouch hanging around her waist. Her shoes were her brown boots. "I don't see anything wrong with it, because your coat looks like mine!"

"At least you like it. Hey! Guys! I am here now. We may leave!" Lucy called.

Erza walked toward Lucy with a small smile on her face. "Great. Now, we need to figure out how to approach this..."

"Approach what Erza-san?" Wendy walked up behind her with Gray and Carla by her side.

"It has been brought to my attention that the press hasn't seen Natsu in years and has never seen Lucy. By the way, when I mean Jason when I saw press. You can understand my concern for their safety," Erza concluded. Everyone besides Lucy nodded in agreement.

"Wait, what's wrong with Jason?" She asked.

"Jason is an animal when it comes to article interviews. He is sorta like a stalker who says 'cool!' All the time. He's a really creepy dude," Gray explained.

"Says the stripper. Put some clothes on ice princess! Wendy looks like she could faint!" Natsu growled.

Gray jumped in surprise. "When did this happen?! And don't call me ice princess matchstick! I mean flame brain!" Erza's eyes flared to life at the name they all agreed not to call him.

"Gray..." She said in a eerily calm voice. You know what they say, it's always calm before the storm. In this case, a storm of swords.

"I told you not to call me that bastard!" Natsu screamed at the top of his voice. Team Natsu stopped whatever they were doing to try and calm him.

"It's ok Natsu. CALM yourself," Lucy rubbed his back which was currently covered in fire. When he calmed, he growled.

"Lucy, you guys go ahead to the arena in ninja-mode. We will meet up with you as soon as you can," Erza said.

"Nin-nin!" Lucy turned to Natsu who now had his scarf around his head with Happy on his head doing a weird hand formation similar to Natsu's. Lucy looked at them with confused eyes.

"Oh Mavis, help me!"  
...

Lucy POV

Currently, we were hopping on roof tops. In broad daylight. Yeah, Ninja-mode alright. A man with bright pink -no salmon- hair, a blue cat with wings flying next to him, and me, with my bright blonde hair and shiny keys the glowed in the sunlight. See? Ninjas. My grip on Natsu's back tightened every time we jumped from building to building.

"Are we almost there? The sun keeps rising higher and higher," I whispered in his ear. Natsu must've taken notice to my statement, because he jumped to the alleyways and ran faster.

"We are almost there now. Two minutes tops," he grinned over his shoulder. I smiled back. I was just happy he was being my Natsu again. Did I just say my Natsu? No no no. He's not mine! Right? Uggh, I really need to quit thinking about stuff like that. Where would all those thoughts get me? That's right; in trouble.

The alleys of Crocus were dark and damp. Some of the alleys branched off to other, darker alley that I really wouldn't like to go down. Rats scurried from behind crates and trash cans as he ran forward. I let out a slight 'eeeeepp!' As he jumped over a trash can that had bugs crawling out from it. Toward the end of the endless darkness, there was light. Light that lead to the coliseum. I was mentally rejoicing when we stopped.

"Why did we stop?" I whispered. Happy got off of Natsu's head crawled between my chest and his back.

"We are being watched. We have been since we left the inn," Natsu said. I looked at his profile. His usually cheery onyx eyes were now steely and on high alert. The dragon slayer sniffed the air. His eyes narrowed. "It smells like earth and something I can't put my finger on."

"Can we lose them?" I asked. Natsu was about to reply when a figure came out of the shadows. He had longish brown hair and brown eyes. He was really buff, like Laxus, with just a brown muscle shirt, baggy cream colored pants, combat boots, and a rock in his hand that looked like it had bite marks on it. Around his neck was a piece of metal that was flashing a bright red light.

I have never seen this man before in my life, but it looked like Natsu had. There was an emotion I thought that was never possible in his eyes: fear. He tightened his grip around my legs. Happy crawled around my neck to my back as if he was going to carry me away. "What's happening?" I dug my head into the crook of his neck.

Natsu let out the most vicious growl I had ever heard coming from him. He bared his sharp teeth for multiple seconds. The man did the same but not to that extent.

"Who are you?" I heard Natsu ask.

"I am Drake, one of the five great Dragon Slayer's Slayer that ever lived. Who are you exactly?" Drake stepped forward. Natsu did the same.

"I think you already know that." Natsu walked up closer to him. I then noticed Natsu was a few inches taller than Drake was.

"You're smarter than my boss gives you credit for, Natsu Dragneel." I felt like hissing for some reason when he said that. "I really would love to talk to that blonde of yours, but I am afraid that will have to wait. Good by Lucy Heartifillia. Natsu Dragneel." He left.

When Drake was out of sight, Natsu took off running. As he did so, I thought I saw tears in his eyes. It couldn't be because of the wind. I knew exactly what it was about when I saw him mouth a sentence.

_"He's here to take my Lucy."_


	8. Chapter 8

?

**_Hello! Now I am back. I think my updates will happen every other week. It's easier for me you see. I know this update will be less than stellar, (get it? Stellar like Lucy's... Magic... Hell with that) My end of the year tests are coming up in all of my classes including my language classes. Yay. _**

**_Gajeel: note the mock enthusiasm. _**

**_Me: I think they can see that. Do the disclaimer have studying to do!_**

**_Gajeel: TivaNaluKick4evs is bastard bitch, who hasn't been paying attention to the NaLu lovers lately. She can't be Hiro Mashima. _**

**_Me: you didn't have to say that! But did you read the newest chapter? I swear I almost drowned in my NaLu feels. (I also almost drowned in my tears of joy)_**

**_ENJOY!_**

...

Fairy Tail arrived at the GMG arena drawing as much attention as they could to themselves. They were wild, loud, drunk in Cana's case, and most of all, disturbing the peace of Crocus' streets. Any other given day, the city's population would go on a riot against the noise, but since today was a day to celebrate, they let it slide. The other guilds however, weren't to accepting if the chaos Fairy Tail bestowed upon the arena.

"That damn guild again..." Lamia Scale's ice make mage griped.

"They are just lively. No need to complain," Jura said from beside him.

"Yeah well, I can't help complaining about them. They turned a peaceful morning into a loud and obnoxious one." Lyon muttered to himself. "Plus my Juvia has her hands all over Gray!" He pointed toward the other ice mage who was trying to pry Juvia off of him.

Jura looked at Lyon questioningly. "Right..."  
...

As Erza stepped foot into the arena she was in awe. The whole structure was twice as big as she thought it would be. But she remembered this was the Capitol city after all. Things were bigger here than in Magnolia. From the flower arrangements, to the homes, to some of the people.

Erza, who was leading the guild, fell back into the shadows while everyone got seated or went into their teams. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw three figures, one with the unmistakeable outline of Happy. He rushed by her, flying out into the stands. Behind him, Natsu and Lucy walked silently.

"What took you so long? You should've been here before us," she scolded.

"Because of this, Mira almost got trampled on by Jason."  
Natsu sheepishly rubbed his neck. "Sorry. We had an... Unexpected delay."

"Like what?" Erza raised an eyebrow.

"Someone was following us. Natsu thought it was a reporter. So we had to run around and lose him," Lucy explained. Erza couldn't tell she lied, much to Lucy's happiness.

"Good thing you lost him. Now, I will gather our team. Fairy Tail Team B will go before us. We will be last. Got it?" Natsu and Lucy nodded. "Good. I will be back."

Natsu watched Erza run off. When he could no longer see her, he grabbed Lucy and hugged her. She hugged back. On his chest, he could feel her necklace heat up, along with his scarf.

"Are you ok Natsu?" Lucy whispered into his chest. She could feel his head nod on top of her head.

"Yeah. Just kinda shaken. How did he know your name?"

"I don't know. But it will be fine. I know that much," she pulled away so she could look at him in the eye. "I will be fine because you will be there to protect me."

Natsu smiled. He tapped his head to hers for a moment. "Thanks Luce. You can count on me. Now, lets get get ready. I can hear ice princess running down the hall."

They untangled their arms. Natsu leaned against the wall of the tunnel, with his foot propped against the wall and a bored look on his face.

Lucy crossed her arms and leaned a shoulder on the wall. She rubbed her necklace between her fingers as her team came into view. Wendy waved when she saw the two.

"Lucy-san! Aren't you excited?" Wendy whispered excitedly.

"Of course I am!" Lucy giggled. "Now all of our training will finally pay off!"

"Oi flame brain! What took you so long?" Gray got in Natsu's face. "What were you doing?"

"None of your business stripper!" Natsu snarled.

"Boys quiet! We don't want them to find us. And Gray, they were being followed by a rogue reporter. Natsu, calm down. They are about to call out Team B. Lets listen," Erza pushed herself in between the two boys.  
-

"Now, for one of the teams of the guild you have all been waiting for... Fairy Tail Team B! The team members consist of Gajeel Redfox, Laxus Dreyer, Juvia Lockser, Mirajane Stratuss, and Cana Alberona!" The announcer yelled. The crowd went wild. All you could hear were whistles and shouts.

Once the cries died down, they went on.

"You guys ready?" Gray asked.

"I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Natsu and Lucy yelled. Wendy cheered while Erza smiled.

"Now, for the moment we have been waiting for... Titania Erza Scarlet, Ice mage Gray Fullbuster, Dragon Slayer Wendy Marvell, The newest member, Lucy Heart, and Dragon Slayer Natsu Dragneel! Fairy Tail Team A!" The announcer practically shouted into the microphone lacrima.

Team Natsu walked out side by side, slowly to take in the atmosphere. Not a single seat was left open. Everyone was cheering, but nothing compared to the guild, which was having a personal party.

"Look!" Wendy said. The gang looked toward the direction she was pointing. Every team was using their magic to create their guild's signal, including Fairy Tail Team B. "Let's do that," Wendy suggested. She looked at Erza for approval.

Erza smiled softly to the sky. She looked at her team. "Everyone, use your magic to create our symbol. Ready?"

She started requiping into her Heavens Wheel armor. Gray got into his stance. Wendy gathered the air around them, to where the air was sparkly around her. The only ones who weren't ready were Natsu and Lucy.

"Should I use both?" Lucy whispered to Natsu.

"Let's go wild. Do it if you can," he grinned in her general direction. This smile was, of course, caught by the fan girls who were passing out in the stands.

"Dance my Blades!"

"Ice make-"

"Sky Dragon's-"

"Fire Dragon's-"

"Open! Gate of the Lion! Loke!"

Lucy stopped.

"Fire Dragon's-" Lucy began.

"PENTAGONAL DANCE!"

"CANNON!"

"ROAR!"

"ROAR!"

"REGULUS BEAM!"

"HEAVENLY FLAME!"

The magic rose into the air and began to swirl around, mixing together. When all the magic finally clashed, a big explosion sounded in the sky. It was like fireworks. When the smoke settled, you could see the guilds symbol created with gold and red fire. The air around it seemed to shimmer. Ice and a yellow light rained down. Swords in the shape of a pentagon formed around the symbol.

"Ahh! It's so pretty Natsu!" Lucy grabbed his arm.

"Now princess, you can hold onto my arm," Loke pushed up his glasses while holding up his arm. He quickly tucked his arm back to his side when he saw the death glare Natsu was giving him.

"You can go back Loke." Lucy said.

"But I-"

"Forced gate closure!"

"...Luce, you didn't have to do that," Natsu said. Though he was secretly happy she made him go away.

"I know. He was just going to hit on me. I really didn't want four people hitting on me at once."

"There isn't four people-" Natsu closed his mouth when he saw Hibiki, Ren, and Eve approach them with an enthusiastic Jason following behind them. "Shit."

When Natsu could finally get away from the playboys and Jason, he breathed out a sigh of relief. All Jason did was ask him stupid questions. After Natsu replied, he would always yell "cool!" Watching Lucy being fawned over by those womanizers was almost worse than his situation. And Natsu had to explain where he was for the past decade! All Natsu told him was that he was depressed, so he didn't go on missions much. After that, Jason kept mumbling something about feeling sorry for him.

When it was Lucy's turn to be with Jason, Natsu's muscles were wound tight. He wasn't allowed to be with her when he interviewed her. But from what he could hear, the questions she was having to answer weren't too personal. By the time Jason left, it was time for the first match.

The announcer overhead quieted down the commotion. "For the first match! We have Lamia Scale vs Quattro Cerberus! Please pick who you want to participate."

The match started when every guild was in their respectable seating areas.

In the end, Lamia Scale's Sherry Blendy beat Quattro Cerberus' War Cry in less than a minute. So much for an eventful first match.  
...

By the time the sun went down, Fairy Tail was tearing up the streets of Crocus. The local bar was packed full of loud drunk mages barely a hour after the contestants were dismissed.

When Team A entered the bar, they were greeted with cheers. Even though they did really nothing, they still got a congratulations. Erza didn't understand it, but Natsu was eating it up.

"Natsu, we didn't do anything. Why are you telling everyone you are the best mage in that arena?" Lucy asked.

"I am only telling the truth. Geez Luce, I thought you would know by now!" He winked at her. Lucy blushed for a moment. She stopped when she saw Natsu hop on a table and start dancing. Her laughs were uncontrollable.

The rest of the night continued like that until midnight. Midnight is when it changed.  
...

When most of the non-partiers left, the room cleared out revealing a larg round table with two unknown people sitting around it.

"Oi!" Gray's voice sounded. "Who are you?"

Natsu and Lucy turned their attention from a huge piece of cake they were sharing to look at the two figures. Natsu sniffed the air around them. His eyes narrowed.

"Luce... Stay behind me."

"Why? Who is it?" She whispered in his ear.

"Our old friend Drake." Lucy cowered back in fear.

"I said, who are you?" Gray asked again. Drake snorted and stepped into the light. The other figure did not.

"It seems we meet again, Natsu Dragneel. And Lucy Heart-" Drake pointed at Natsu. Natsu didn't let him finish her last name. He leaped across the room to land on his chest.

"Why're you here? What do you want with Lucy?"

...

**The ending was confusing but I need to get back into the feel for writing again. **

**Please review!**

**BTW thank you for the 32 reviews! *cries tears of joy***


	9. Chapter 9

?

**_MUST REREAD STORY! I edited it! Some of this won't make much sense if you don't go back!_**

**Remember when I last updated? Pepperidge Farm does. **

**So... I kinda couldn't write for a while for various reasons. **

**1. I have been in Germany visiting my dad for the past three weeks. **

**2. I got sick ****_in_**** Germany so I couldn't write anything while I was there. **

**It didn't help that I had writers block for this chapter alone. I know where I want to go for this story, but I kinda got lost. WARNING! Don't let Plue have your road map for any story. At all. He kept shaking it so I couldn't read the directions. Plus I had a hungry Happy, a grumpy Lucy, a Gray who kept stripping at every stop sign, an angry Erza, plus a motion sickness free, annoying Natsu who kept asking if we were there yet. **

**Natsu: Geez, I was just wondering. **

**Me: I liked you better when you were motion sick. **

**Natsu: Harsh. **

**Me: Just do the disclaimer. These people have waited long enough!**

**Natsu: *looks inside author's sketch book* Yep, defiantly not Hiro Mashima. Not even close. **

**ENJOY!**

Drake laughed under Natsu's feet. His dark eyes gleamed dangerously while he looked at Natsu's onyx ones. Natsu growled when his eyes would flicker back at a cowering Lucy and a pissed dragon slayer.

"I think you know what I want. Now get off of me. It's looks mighty threatening and suspicious to the people around us," Drake hissed quietly. With an intense glare, Natsu slowly got off of his chest. Drake held up his hand so someone could help him up, but Natsu ignored him. With a huff, Drake nimbly hopped to his feet.

The fire dragon slayer walked back to Lucy so he could pull her behind him rather possessively. "I will repeat myself. What do you want?"

Drake picked up a piece of stone that fell of the walls when Natsu launched him into the ground. "I just came to say hi," he said sarcastically.

Natsu growled.

"I highly doubt that," Lucy mumbled.

Catching the slight mumble from Lucy, Drake walked over to her. Before Natsu could stop him, he kicked him to the side only leaving the blonde beauty in his line of vision.

In the corner of the bar, Gajeel was concealed by the darkness. The only reason that he was there, he swore to himself, is because he knew that if Natsu got into another near death fight, it wasn't going to be good. The iron dragon slayer wasn't affected by the magic Wendy placed on the rest of the guild. Because he was conscious, the sleep thriving magic had no affect on him. He remembered everything.

Gajeel watched as the burley man grabbed Lucy's hair harshly. She cried in pain. Natsu was practically spewing lava out of his mouth as he tried to let a dragon's roar out. Gray and Erza were holding him back, in fear that Lucy could get caught up in the attack.

Seeing Natsu's state, Drake chuckled. "Well, you obviously don't like that now do you? How about this?" Drake cupped the girls chin and tilted it upwards. Natsu almost broke Gray's arm when he lunged forward.

Gajeel noticed the situation was getting out of hand. If they held him back any longer, some major burns and broken bones would be in the near future for his guild mates.

"Let's Salamander go! You are just going to get yourselves hurt in the end," Gajeel growled. Natsu spared him a confused look for a second.

"If we let him go, Lucy could get hurt!" Erza said. She wasn't too happy about the situation either, but she couldn't put Lucy at risk.

"Bunny-Girl will be fine! She is fire proof!" Gajeel yelled in retort. Lucy quickly turned her head to meet him with wide eyes. How did he know?

Drake glared at the iron dragon slayer. He jerked Lucy's face back to his, moving it closer. Lucy squirmed against his grip. Natsu lashed out again, this time breaking free of the grip his comrades had on him.

Before Natsu could come even close to them, Drake picked the blonde up and moved her to the back booth. There, he sat at the table with a strong hand around Lucy's wrist and a foot wrapped around her ankle. The fire dragon snarled at him. Smirking, Drake leaned closer to Lucy's face. Thinking he was going to kiss her, she leaned her face away from him. Instead, he dipped his head toward her neck and licked her from collarbone to ear. Behind her ear, he nipped at the skin a bit. Lucy shook her head fiercely, trying to get him off of her. He laughed lightly at her reaction.

Gajeel looked at them in horror. Something uncontrollable is about to happen. Not even the Memory Replace spell could get rid of the event about to occur. His eyes darted over to Natsu. The veins in his eyes looked like they could burst at any moment. The muscles on his arms were strained.

"Oh, someone didn't like that at all," Drake remarked. Lucy was horrified. She felt like crying, running, fighting, and screaming at the same time.

Lucy gave Natsu a gut wrenching look.

Lighting up his fist, Natsu launched himself forward at a stunning speed. When Drake finally let go of Lucy to move, it was too late. He was sent into the back wall. His back made a sickening cracking noise that echoed around the room. Drake's eyes flared to life as Natsu took a step closer.

"You idiot! You'll pay for that! EARTH DRAGON ROAR!"

Chunks of dirt, rock and other shards of minerals were sent toward Natsu. He put up his hands in a failed attempt to block himself from the flying objects. Small cuts and scraped stung his biceps as he lowered his guard.

**Natsu POV**

"Dragon slayer huh? That makes this even worse," I cursed to myself. I knew if Drake was working for who I thought he was, we were screwed. The best I could do right now was scare him off.

I could tell by the look in his amused eyes when he was holding Lucy, he was going for gold. You know those stories about a dragon guarding its gold? Well in this case, he was guarding his promise of gold. I am almost positive he is working for the low life, son of a bitch Jude. Jude has gold as a reward for bringing Lucy back; something that scaredy cat for a knight Takao couldn't do.

Guarding gold is like a dragon's sixth sense. Sadly, dragon slayers have this sense. Some more than others. Obviously, Drake has a stronger sixth sense in me.

For now.

I have noticed for about a year that my possessiveness over what I thought was mine has been more prominent. Just the little things like food, space, jobs, Happy, Lucy, my scarf...

Wait, did I just say Lucy?

I shook my head. Now is not the time to be thinking about stuff like that.  
Drake took a guarded stance, bracing himself for my attack. I spared a glance to Lucy, who was now standing with my team and Gajeel. She seemed fine. Now reassured that she was ok, I focused my attack on Drake.

"Come on Lizard," the opposing dragon slayer said. "Give me your worst."

I clenched my teeth, thinking about what attack I could use to push him back. Now thinking before I attack isn't something I'm known for. That's more Lucy's thing, not mine. As this thought went in my head, something in the back of my mind popped to life. Instantly, strategies rushed through my skull.

I smirked when I finally got a move that would surely leave him running.

_"With a flame on the right hand..._

_and a flame on the left hand..._

_When you combine the flames together..._

_Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"_

A ball of fire was sent straight toward him. Before the flame reached him, I added another move to finish him off.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

The two bands of fire, mixed with the fire ball, slammed him in all directions. As the smoke cleared, I walked forward to the slowly rising lump on the floor.

"T-this isn't the last you will see of me," he adjusted his weird collar. "Remember this: I _always_ get my gold. Always." Drake limped out of the bar.  
...

I walked out of the bathroom shirtless with a towel slung around my neck and my scarf tied around my head. It has been little over an hour since Drake's little appearance. Still, all of us are on guard, me especially. Drake almost got a hold of Lucy. The mere thought of that possibility made my head spin. I just wanted to throw up.

Anyway, as I stepped into the living space/ Gray and Erza's room, I saw the old man sitting on one of the beds. Lucy was sitting right next to him. Her expression was blank from what I could see, that is until she noticed my presence. Her big brown eyes looked at me with so much emotion I almost choked.

She hasn't said much of anything since I carried her out of the bar. It's starting to worry me probably more than it should.

"Natsu?" The familiar voice of Lucy snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah Luce?"

"I-"

She was about to say something until somebody slammed the door open.

"Natsu! Lu-chan! Thank goodness you are alright. We came as soon as we could! Gajeel told me about it," Levy panted. The worried, tired, and concerned look on her face was funny. I almost laughed, except metal head was glaring at me.

"Levy-chan! You didn't have to come at this time of night!" Lucy seemed thankful despite of what she said.

"It's no problem Lu-chan. Plus Gajeel said he wanted to talk to Natsu about something, so when I found him in the hallway, he told me about you," Levy faintly blushed. I tilted my head at Gajeel who was still glaring at me.

"Take a picture it'll last longer, metal head."

"Whadya' say Salamander?!" Gajeel stepped out from behind Levy, shaking his fist at me.

"Get the grease out of your ears piercing's! You heard me!"

"You wanna go, flaming bag of shit?"

"Bri-" before we knew it, our bodies were implanted into the floorboards.

"Brats! No fighting! We still have to pay for the damages to the bar that was destroyed. I don't want to have to pay for more repairs unless its really," he looked at me. "Important. Like life or death," I flinched.

"Tch. Come on Salamander. We need to have a talk." Gajeel growled so only I could hear. He pushed me into my shared room with Lucy. After he shut the door, I faced him with a confused expression.

"What the hell?"

"Calm down. I need to talk to you. It's about Bunny-Girl. I know who she really is," his red eyes glared into mine.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I lied.

"Save the shit for someone else who will fall for it. I know Lucy is the Lost Princess. I know that you and her go way back. I also know that you, Bunny-Girl, Wendy, that old healing hag, along with the Master placed a spell on the guild so they wouldn't know her secret."

"B-but how?" I whispered.

"I was awake. It takes a lot more than come cut rate sleeping magic to make Dragon Slayers go under,"

I sighed. "Now you're in on it. Great. Just don't tell anyone else about this. I want to protect her as long as I can. It's not that I like going behind my nakama's backs, but it had to be done."

Gajeel stared at me with a blank look on his face. "If you didn't almost kill a knight then we wouldn't have this problem now would we?" He sneered.  
I just stared at him. Didn't he understand? I couldn't control myself. Even if I didn't want to kill him I still couldn't stop the rage that welled up inside of me at that moment.

"You wouldn't understand."

"I think I might be able to. You just couldn't control your emotions." Gajeel crossed his arms.

"Shut up! I can control them!" Flames licked their merry way up my arms and legs. My breathing was more labored than before. I could slowly feel my patience wear thin for some odd reason. Quickly getting out of my faze, I stopped the flames from spreading farther. My muscles acted automatically, moving hands in front of my face while I inspect them.

"Hmm. Just what I thought," That bastard had the utter nerve to smirk at me.

"Bastard," I mumbled. "You have no idea what's going on with me. Not even I do." Ok, so between you and me, I was sort of worried. I know Gramps had told me once I have the flames of emotion. As my feelings of anger or happiness or what other feeling I was having, rises, my flames get more powerful. It can be both good and bad if you think about it.

Good: Some pretty kick ass moves can come out of it.

Bad: Can burn everything in sight if not careful.

"Tch, whatever Salamander. Just remember: you can't have another outburst like that unless you want them to know. Bunny-Girl can't afford another moment like that before she has to come clean, putting her life at risk. And yours,"

"What do mean 'and yours'?" I asked.

"Well, obviously if Lucy was captured you would go after her. If you go against Drake one more time without controlling your power, you can kill him, everyone in sight, and yourself from magical exhaustion."

I sat down on the bed and put my head in my hands. My fingertips heated up, causing my hair to crimp slightly.

"Come on. I can hear the girls talking about us." Gajeel started his way to the door.

"What am I going to do?" I whispered to no one specifically.

"Hell if I know. Maybe you can train. Some of the guild members do that at the park specifically for wizards in the middle of town when the games aren't going on."

"Yeah, whatever. Lets just go."  
...

Lucy sat next to me with a soothing hand rubbing my back. Gajeel and Levy had made their way out after my oh so pleasant conversation with that metal eater.

"What are we going to do now?" Lucy asked Gramps.

He closed his eyes in concentration. Suddenly, he opened his eyes with an excited look on his face.

"I don't know!"

My sweat dropped.

"R-really?" Lucy stuttered.

"Oh come on! There has to be something we can do to keep Luce safe!" I practically shouted.

"Calm down Natsu. I am surprised Gray and Erza haven't come back yet," he mused.

"How does that help?" I grumbled.

"Wait, that necklace. Does it have magical properties?" Gramps asked. Lucy removed her hand from my back to fiddle with her seventh birthday present from me.

"Yeah. It can heal me. I used the flames in the opening ceremonies." Lucy smiled softly at the flickering flame. My scarf glowed red for a moment. A sense of happiness flowed through me. I smiled at her necklace and my scarf.

"Hmm. I wonder if we can modify the flame some more," the master rubbed his temples.

"Why would we want to do that?" Lucy asked.

"Maybe if we can add more power and abilities to the flame, we can place more protection for you. But, that depends on who made the necklace,"

"Why?" I asked. I think I could see where he was going with this but I really didn't want to budge. That flame was the one I made when I was young. The flame that Igneel taught me how to make. He helped me make it.

"If the flame was made by Igneel, then we can't replace it with another one exactly like it. Only the flames of the creator of that necklace can be placed in there. Nothing else." Gramps explained. Lucy nodded.

"Natsu made the necklace. He cut the stone, molded the gold, did the flame and everything. Igneel just stood and watched." Lucy smiled at the slightly glowing jewel.

"So, Natsu. Are you willing to put more spells on the necklace to keep Lucy safe?" Master looked straight into my eyes. It was as if he was searching for something. Something that I couldn't see, and didn't think I wanted to.

"If it will keep Lucy safe, I will do anything," I made sure my voice sounded strong. "I will work on it tonight."

"No, you need to rest Natsu," Lucy stated. "You have to be tired! The necklace can wait until tomorrow," she said.

I was about to argue, but Master silenced me with a raised hand.

"Go rest Natsu. In the morning you may work on it if you want to. It's getting late, and the Games are really going to start tomorrow. You wouldn't want to be slacking compared to the rest of your team," Gramps quietly dismissed himself after he muttered a quiet "good night" to Lucy.

Shortly after the door closed, Lucy and I headed toward our bed. Erza and Gray stopped by when they got back from meeting with the other guild members. Gramps apparently made an agreement with everyone to never speak of what they saw or heard. For that, I was thankful.  
...

**NO POV**

Lucy smiled at a very tired dragon slayer sleeping in the middle of the bed. Any other night, she would tell at him to move over or leave if he was getting too clingy. Tonight she didn't mind though. This afternoon had been hard on them both. From a surprise visit from an Earth Dragon Slayer, to being held hostage by the same person, not even twelve hours later. Lucy shivered at the very thought of him. Not the good shivers she got from Natsu, no, the disgusted ones you get when someone licks you in a very intimate way, without your permission. The spirit mage could still feel the way he dragged his rough tounge behind her ear. She still felt whispers of his sickening breath on the back of her neck to boot.

"Lucy..." Natsu mumbled tiredly. "Come 'ere,"

Lucy eased onto the bed and into his warm arms. She rolled around to where her back was tucked neatly into his stomach. Finding this slightly uncomfortable, she rolled over to meet his black eyes staring intently at her. Natsu's arms wrapped all of the way around her, pulling her close. So close in fact, that Lucy felt his chin on her head.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Lucy asked him.

"For not being able to protect you better. I let him touch you in a way you didn't want to be touched. I am so sorry," his voice quivered a bit.

"Natsu... Don't beat yourself up over it. Nobody in that whole room could stop him from trapping me in that back booth."

"I know, that's why I am sorry. I should've been able to beat his sorry ass easily. But, I couldn't. I just..." Lucy gasped when hot tears dropped on her blonde locks.

"D-don't cry!" She whispered. "Look its fine! You did everything in your present power to protect me and for that I am thankful," Lucy met his eyes once more. Tears brimmed around the edges of both their eyes.

Neither knew how long they just stared at each other. Both were content in each others arms and gazes. Slowly, they drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

...

**Ok! I have the first sentence of the** **next chapter so far. Making progress. **


	10. Chapter 10

?

**I am such a horrible author. I haven't updated in forever. I had ideas, just no real motivation. Gomen. I want to thank the two people who reviewed and the rest of those who have reviewed. I would've never had thought that this story could get forty reviews. Especially this early. YOU PEOPLE ARE AMAZING! I am going back to school in four days. It sucks.**

**Gajeel: you still got that job to help the kids learning English?**

**Me: yes and no. Im going to a new school so I wont do it unless nobody else can.**

**Gajeel: sucks to be you. Now you're gonna be a newbie.**

**Me: shut up.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Fairy Tail would I be writing this crap?**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

Before the sun even came up, Natsu was already at work. The tedious task of adding power to Lucy's necklace was enough to drive him up the wall in frustration. At first, he wasn't sure how to even approach something like this. The frustrated mage kept debating whether to add the more powerful fire to the present golden flames, or to just replace the flame all together.

After seriously debating with himself, Natsu decided to keep the flame, but just adding a lot more protection flames to the old spell in use. Now all he needed was to be calm and focused. Being in the same building as his nosy guild mates didn't help his paranoia about the situation at hand.

Natsu thought that watching the sun rise at the top of the clock in the middle of town would help him focus on the oh so important task. So, the dragon slayer did just that. The view up there certainly calmed his nerves to an extent. He felt like something was missing from the scene. Natsu just didn't know what. Shrugging it off, he got to work.

A few hours pasted when he got done. All that needed to be done was to add Lucy's magic to the outside, so if she ever got it taken away from her, the necklace wouldn't respond to anyone but her.

Smiling at his work, Natsu was about to get down from the clock, when he heard someone yelling at him from the street below.

"Natsu! What are you doing up there?" Lucy yelled.

"Looking at the sunrise," Natsu yelled back.

"And you thought I wouldn't want to see it with you?" She asked.

"Usually you aren't a morning person so... Hey, do you want to come up here with me? We can watch the rest of the sunrise together," Natsu motioned for her to come up.

Lucy climbed up the iron stairs on the side of the clock tower. When she got up there, Natsu welcomed her with his breathtaking smile.

"Welcome to the best view in Fiore!" Natsu grabbed her shoulders slightly to turn her around. Lucy gasped at the colors in the sky.

The clouds were a slight shade of purple that mixed well with the blue and pink splashed across the vast skyline. Shops and houses were starting to open their windows and doors. Mages, citizens, children, animals and more poured into the street with the rising sun. But Natsu wasn't looking at any of that. His eyes were locked on her golden halo of hair. The morning sun made it look even more golden.

"Natsu, this is beautiful. How did you know about this place?"

Natsu scratched his neck nervously. "Well, I needed to find a quiet place that was close to the inn. So, when I was walking into town, I thought about how peaceful the sunrise would be if I looked at it from a different angle than being on the ground. I did what anyone would do; I climbed the clock tower!"

Lucy's sweat dropped. "Of course that seems reasonable for you. Have you seen my necklace?" She asked.

As if on cue, the fire breather pulled it out of his pocket. Lucy barely touched the pendant when the flame inside exploded into a mixture of bright yellow and flaming red. The ruby hardened at her touch, making Lucy feel warm inside.

"I was going to put it in another box so I could give it to you as a present. But if you want it now-"

"No! I mean, you can give it to me as a present. I won't tell," Lucy winked. Natsu grinned at her.

"Ok. I will give it to you later. But now, don't we need to head toward the inn? The games are in a few hours." Natsu stretched his back.  
"I guess. Come on let's go," Lucy smiled and grabbed his big, warm hand.

* * *

Erza tapped her foot impatiently. This morning, Lucy ran out of the inn to search for Natsu. It was almost time for them to leave for the arena, but they still weren't back.

"Where is Lucy with the flame brain? Did he drag her into something stupid again?" Gray mumbled under his breath.

"Oi, whadya say ice pick?" Natsu walked in the room with Lucy's hand in his. Both were smiling about something Erza didn't know about.

"You heard me dragon boy!"

"Droopy eyes,"

"Squinty eyes,"

"Stripper,"

"... Bastard!"

"Is that really the best you've got?" Natsu let got of Lucy's hand.

"Boys! No fighting! Thanks to Natsu, we might be late," Erza grumbled.

Natsu scratched his neck nervously while Lucy rubbed some hair in between her fingers.

"Sorry..." The duo said.

"If we run, we might be able to catch up with Team B, lets go!" Erza ordered.

* * *

The Fairy Tail mages were in a dead sprint down the street. Everyone, Natsu especially, was having trouble navigating in the narrow pathways. People seemed to be spilling out of buildings at the most inconvenient times. It got worse as they neared the arena. When they passed through the lobby leading into the stands, they slowed down a bit. The crowd was becoming more dense around them. As people realized who they were, it got worse.

"Gray! Grab Wendy and Natsu grab Lucy. Get them to our spots as fast as you can. Happy and Carla will help me with my distraction. Go!" Erza ordered.

With a slight "Eeep!" From the girls, Gray and Natsu picked them both up bridal style, running in opposite directions.

"Let's go, Happy, Carla!" Erza yelled. The exceeds picked her up, high above the star struck people. Little kids laughed happily and pointed at Erza's receding figure.

The flying cats silently carried her to her waiting comrades. Natsu and Lucy were talking about something while the remaining two members watched her as she jumped over the rail.

"Thank you. You may leave,"

"Aye SIR! Good Luck!" Happy yelled.

"Be careful," Carla gazed at Wendy before turning tail and leaving.

"Glad you could join us Fairy Tail Team A." They blushed. "Welcome to the first official day of the Grand Magic Games! I can practically feel the excitement from the stands, so I will get right to the match of the day. Fairy Tail Team A's Lucy Heart! Versus Raven Tail's Flare Corona!"

The audience stomped their feet in excitement. Everyone knew about the feud between the father and son guilds. That made this match a hundred times more exciting.

"Me?" Lucy said. Her team pushed her out, while Natsu took the more civil approach and walked her out.

When they came to the edge of the battle field, Natsu put something a bit heavy around her neck.

"You'll need it. I'll wrap it up later. Good luck Luce! Show them the results of our training. I know you can do it. We all believe in you. Now if you excuse me, I will be the one cheering the loudest in the stands,"

Lucy smiled. After waving at the dragon slayer, Lucy made her way to the middle. As she walked, a sense of uncertainty wavered over her. What if she couldn't even land a hit on this Flare girl? What if something went wrong with her magic that could cost her the match? No, she couldn't think of that. She was a mage of Fairy Tail. She could do anything! Her mother and Igneel both taught her not to give up before the fight even started. Natsu taught her that and much more.

"Blondie..." A high pitched voice sent her back to reality. Lucy rubbed her necklace nervously in between her fingers.

"Come on Lucy! You can do it!"

"Go Lucy-san!"

"You can do it Lu-chan!"

"Lucy is a MAN!"

"You can do it Luce! I know you can!"

The last voice stuck out for the celestial mage. A determined look etched her face.

"Don't worry. I'll defiantly win."

"This match has a thirty minute time limit. And the match starts now!"

"Here we go. Open, gate of the golden bull! Taurus!"

The bull spirit wasted no time attacking. He swung his huge battle axe at Flare.

"Scorpio!" Lucy yelled.

The two spirits combined their attacks and aimed it at Flare. Smiling, her hair unwrapped itself to form a barrier to protect her from the sand.

"Her hair extended?!" Natsu cried.

"Blondie..." She seethed. "Hair shower- wolf fang!" Her hair formed into the shape of a wolf.

Lucy rummaged through her key pouch. When she found the key she was looking for, she called out.

"Open, gate of the crab! Cancer!"

Flare tilted her head. "Oh..."

"Cancer, cut her hair please!"

The crab spirit jumped up high cutting her red locks. The Raven Tail mage simply gave Lucy the coldest glare she had ever received.

"Oh no. Not today blonde!" Flare snapped.

The rest happened so fast, some found it hard to believe it even happened.

In an instant, Cancer and the other spirits were wrapped tightly in Flare's hair. Cancer's scissors dropped out of his reach along with Taurus' axe.

Other parts of her hair latched onto Lucy's ankles, wrists, and mouth. The celestial mage struggled in her new found restraints.

"Not so tough are you now Blondie?" Flare giggled. A sadistic smile found its way to her face. "Call back your spirits. Now!" She ordered.  
Collective gasps could be heard when Lucy followed her captive's orders.

"Good girl."

"Mmmmm! Mmmmmmm!" Lucy tried to speak but the hair restricted noise.

Flare tightened her grip on Lucy's mouth. "Who said you could speak? Not good at following orders are we now?"

The celestial mage felt a tiny pang of déjà vu from her words. Lucy's chocolate eyes frantically searched for anything she could use. Her keys were attached to her hip, so no hope there. Her whip was in the same position. Cursing silently, she met the red head's eyes once again.

"It's getting Awfully quiet in here don't you think? Lets spice it up shall we?" Flare laughed maniacally as another free part of her hair shifted to form the Raven Tail mark.

"Now lets see. Where should we put put this? Here?" The mark hovered over her chest. "Here?" Over her leg. "No. _Here_,"

Lucy pulled at the hair again when she saw the mark getting dangerously close to her Fairy Tail mark. Closing her eyes, she chomped down on the hair blocking her mouth.

"No! Anything but that! Stop!" Lucy cried.

"You bitch! You bit my precious hair!" Flare screeched. The still present hair tightened around the blonde's body. She squirmed uncomfortably.  
Her captor suddenly laughed. "Let's see how you like this..."

Now, Lucy knew she should expect surprises from the mages participating, but this was a new one. When Flare started laughing, her hair caught on fire. At first, this startled the blonde beauty. Hair that could erupt into flames wasn't normal.

But a girl who was immune to fire wasn't either.

Flare's triumphant laugh died down when she couldn't hear any screams of pain. Only amused chuckles from the mage in her bindings. Her eyes widened at Lucy, who was covered in red flames. The fire completely swallowed her whole. Instead of the smell of burning flesh and blood curtailing screams, nothing happened.

The crowd was so quiet you could hear a pen drop. The only noise was Natsu chuckling darkly. Gray shook his head in slight amusement. The guild in the stands only smirked. Opposing teams spared shocked and confused glances at the confidant Fairy Tail mages.

"W-what is this? Why aren't you burning?!" Flare cried out.

The smirk on Lucy's face grew as the red heads panic rose.

"Can't you see? I'm fire proof."

"H-how's that even possible?"

"That is for her to know, and you to never find out," a voice from behind her said. Flare turned around to come in close contact with a fist.

"Good job Loke!" Lucy took Flares temporary distraction to break feee of her bonds.

Natsu cheered from the stands harder and louder than anyone when she secretly called out Loke. Usually, he knew all of her moves. Even the secret ones. But this was new. He didn't know much about celestial magic, even though he could use it, but he knew calling out for a spirit without a key was an incredible feat. Plus the bond between key holder and spirit had to be strong.

He watched as Lucy grabbed her whip to fight the red head with her spirit. Loke and Lucy moved with each other in perfect sync. They landed attacks all over the opposing mage every five seconds, leaving her no time to react. Natsu saw Lucy's eyes flicker up at the lacrima telling the time left above the arena. Only two minutes remained. To some, two minutes seemed so short. For Natsu, he knew two minutes was more than enough to turn the tables in an unfavorable direction.

"Hey Natsu, does it look like Lucy is almost out of magic?" Erza asked. The fire mage grabbed onto the rail as he looked closer at the blonde's face.

Sweat made her blonde hair stick to her forehead. The silver streaks of sweat poured down her neck. She didn't look to be in very good shape. Flare didn't look so hot either. The two had been at each others throats the whole time so it was no wonder why they both looked like they had just taken showers.

"Yeah, but Flare does too. I hope she can make it for the final few seconds," Natsu looked up at the clock hopefully.

...23

...22

...21

...20

Lucy quickened her pace as Flare flicked her hair at her feet.  
...18

...17

...16

...15

Flare grunted when Lucy's whip smacked her arm.

...13

...12

...11

...10

An idea flickered in the hair mages mind. She sent tiny pieces of hair behind Lucy's neck.

...8

...7

...6

...5

The clasp around Lucy's neck came loose, sending the necklace to the ground. Before Lucy could even move to pick it up, a strand of hair grabbed it out the air.

...3

Picking it up high in the air, Flare swung it in the key mage's face.

...2

It was like Lucy's life flashed before her very eye when Flare dropped it.

...1

"Didn't they tell you not to wear jewelry while fighting Blondie?"

...0

The buzzer ending the match rang through the air the same time a cloud of dust appeared between the two. Lucy heard the sound of something heavy hit the ground, but not anything busting into a million pieces.

"And the concludes the match!" The announcer sang. "It's a tie between Fairy Tail and Raven Tail!" Mixed emotions sounded throughout the arena.

Before the dust cleared, Flare stomped off in embarrassment, for she didn't win or lose. She was in league with a Fairy Tail mage.

Not one soul was left in the building when the dust finally settled. Lucy's hands were covering her eyes in fear of what she may see. Gaining the courage, she opened her eyes to meet a head of pink hair. Her eyes widened. Slowly, Natsu raised his head to reveal her necklace in his big tan palm. Tears welled in her eyes.

"You saved it," Lucy choked out.

"Of course I did. I don't really remember how I got here though. I saw Loke lunge for it, then all of the suddenly I had a face full of dirt," he grinned widely at her. "Congratulations by the way!"

Lucy blushed. "But I didn't win."

"You didn't lose either did you? Nope," Natsu popped the 'P'. "You were amazing. You won it all today in my book. That's all that matters."

Lucy giggled. "I guess. But next time I'll win. For sure." Natsu stood up and help out his hand. "I'm all fired up!"

* * *

Jude chucked the camera lacrima at the wall above Takao's head. He squeaked and ran to avoid the falling glass. The king's knuckles were white as he held them to his sides.

Lucy was more powerful than he originally thought. She was most likely going to surpass Layla's level of magic. The thought wanted to make him punch a wall. If Drake was right about Natsu's power, the chances of getting Lucy back without causing a war between a guild and Fiore were getting slimmer and slimmer. Both of them wouldn't go down without a fight. Just the mere thought of not getting his daughter back made his teeth grind involuntarily.

Getting Lucy back was crucial to his plan. A lot was riding on his success. If he could get her back, he could become the most powerful ruler on the continent.

His plan was simple really. When he gets his daughter back, he will marry her off to the prince of Bosco. Once married, they will have an heir, preferably male, and marry him off to the princess of one of the neighboring countries. The only way any of them could rule, was if he died, which wasn't happening anytime soon.

"Damn that girl. Once she gets back home, she's going to be punished," he seethed under his breath.

Takao could only nod. But not to hard. He had one burn still on the side of his head on the same side as the one from before. Even after a year, the burn never fully healed.

"Yes my King," Takao bowed.

Jude snorted angrily. He stomped over to the huge windows that over looked his city.

"Soon. Soon she will be back and when she does, she will regret ever leaving this castle."

* * *

**So... The plot thickens no? Please leave a review so I can have more motivation! I only had two last time. So it took me a while to update. Thank you for reading!**


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